


『 one ante meridiem 』

by alstweinLUVIA



Category: ONE OK ROCK
Genre: Adoption, F/M, Original Character(s), Repressed Memories, Taka x OC, Tamashiro Tina, Yakuza, taka - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-10-13 06:05:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10507806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alstweinLUVIA/pseuds/alstweinLUVIA
Summary: She doesn't know him like the world knows of him.She knows him as Takahiro-kun, the man who's helping her get back on her feet. She doesn't know about Taka the ONE OK ROCK vocalist, and Taka is determined to keep it that way. He's content with their simple moments together.Or that time when Taka found a bloodied, lingerie wearing, free loader in their tour bus. (Taka x OC)





	1. Who are you?

The snow falls gently from the dark skies, and she shivers uncontrollably as the blanket of cool white flakes powder her inch short, jet black hair. Wearing only a bloodied white babydoll and matching white panties, she rubs her arms furiously to get warm.

She's in a gasoline station, shivering in a dark corner when a bus stops by. A man exits the bus and proceeds to open the fuel hatch on its other side.

She wonders if the bus had any more passengers, and thinks of climbing in to get warm and get a lift. She's about to act upon the idea, when a group of four men exits the bus and goes to the convenience store. She freezes and waits for them to get inside the establishment. Her teeth are chattering noisily, and all she wants is to get warm and away.

She jumps to her feet at the thought of getting far from where she came from. The thought of the long vehicle that would take her warms her enough that she manages to scramble to the opened door. She peers inside and listens for anyone. A small smile tugs at her cold blue lips when she hears nobody, and she makes her way up the narrow stairs. The warmth of the bus engulfs her immediately and she sighs contentedly.

She's surprised when she sees that it isn't a regular bus with rows and rows of chairs, but a moving apartment. Or what she assumed was an apartment because of its layout. She walks down the aisle and sees a kitchenette with a small couch, six bunk beds, a door with a toilet sign, and a lounging area at the end. She is amazed with the interior of the bus, and is hungrily eyeing the opened cookie jar on the kitchen counter, when she hears heavy footsteps on the stairs.

She darts down the aisle to the bunk beds, and dives in the lowest bunk to the right. She hopes fervently that nobody sleeps in the lower bunks, or she be found and shooed out of the bus. Her heart pounds in her chest as she hears the men from earlier enter the bus, and she sees four pairs of feet pass by, going to the lounging area at the end.

The bus purrs and then they're moving. She sighs again quietly because she's finally getting far and away from that dreaded place.

"Oi, Tomoya! Sore wa kouka da!" One of the men says, his voice a very distinct and husky tenor, and it makes her jump at how loud he spoke. (Hey, Tomoya! That was expensive.)

"Eh? Koukajanai yo!" A second man replies. She assumes that this is the one called Tomoya. (Huh? It's not!)

"Yasui mono o kaimasu, bakayaro." The husky voiced man says with a laugh. (Buy a cheap one, you idiot.)

"Kotowaru! Ore wa kanemochi desu no de." Tomoya says cheekily. (I refuse! I'm rich after all.)

"Kono misebirekasu. Boku wa kimi o oida." (Show off. I'll kick you out.)

"Yare." (Do it.)

"Douitashimashita." The husky voiced man says, the smile in his voice is apparent. She hears a third man click his tongue, and a fourth man chuckle at this. (With pleasure.)

"Taka! Joudan dayo. Ahahaha~" Tomoya says with a nervous chuckle and she hears the popping of knuckles. (Taka! I'm only joking!)

"Boku wa joudan o itte imasen yo." The man--who's now called Taka--says, and then there are sounds of struggling and suppressed laughter. (But I'm not joking.)

She hears them joke around but she doesn't understand what they are speaking.

_ Japanese. _

A thought spears through her mind, and she's suddenly so afraid that she can't breathe. She remembers the back alley that she came from a town away, and abruptly she isn't in the bunk bed anymore.

_ The dim lights in the alley flickers and the man in front of her shields her from the vicious dogs that were growling and pouncing at them.  _

_ "Run!" The man tells her but she's rooted behind him, petrified with fear. _

_ "W-What about you?!" She asks him as they both sidestep a dog that pounced at them. _

_ "I'll find you! Just go!" _

_ She seems unwilling at first but she understands what the man means. She trusts him completely and so, she began to back away from him and the dogs. A dark coated bulldog runs past the man and jumps to tackle her. She prepares to shove the mad dog away when the man shoots between them and the canine's sharp teeth clamps on his shoulder. _

_ The man crumples to the ground with a grunt, and she's horrified at what he's done, because the dogs tear into his skin and rip off the flesh from his shoulder. She's screaming in panic now, eyes wild and searching for anything to hit the dogs that feasted on the man's fighting body.  _

_ "R-Run... just run... RUN!" He tells her forcibly as a long snouted dog bites into his neck. He gurgles on his blood as he struggles to fend off the four dogs on him. _

_ "Get off! Get off!" She tries to kick a dog but it growls at her and returns to ravage the man. _

_ "Go... run..." The man says a final time before he goes limp under the dogs. _

_ There is a long whistle and the dogs get off of him. Running out of the alley to where the whistle came from. When the last hound was gone, she hastily crawls to him, cradling his head on her lap. _

_ He's torn and bloodied all over, and she ignores the lurch in her stomach as she inhales the suffocating scent of blood. She feels for a pulse on his neck and sees the blood gushing out from the junction of his shoulder and neck. He's breathing laboriously, and the light in his eyes dulls with every second that passes. _

_ "No, no, no!  _ NO _!" She screams and tries her best to hold close the wound on his neck. "Don’t go. Don't go, please."_

_ He looks up at her wild and panic filled eyes, and sees the tears that fell in fat streams down her porcelain cheeks. " _ Takbo _..." He says a final time, exhaling one long breathe before his eyes flutters shut. (Not Japanese: Run.)_

_ She hears the dogs yip and bark happily from around the corner of the alley, and she feels the fear that gripped her whole body double in weight. _

_ "Yoku yatte. Kanojo wa shinde imasu ka?" She hears the voice that never fails to make her uncomfortable in her own skin, and she stands up gently from the dead man on her lap. (Good job. Is she dead?) _

_ "Ah. Kanojo wa shinda." The voice is nearer now, just at the entrance of the alley and she bolts away to the back. Hoping that the man didn't see her in the dark. (Ah. She is dead.) _

_ She runs and runs until she reaches the end of the town. A long road off to somewhere was all she could see before her, and she trudges on. The fear of getting caught the only thing strong enough to power her every step through the cold and rough asphalt. _

"Taka!" Tomoya screams in a pathetic comical way, and she's back in the bunk bed. The memory of the alley still fresh in her mind, and she doesn't notice that she's seized up and braced on the curtain bar.

"Joudan dayo. Joudan." She hears Taka's voice; the laugh that accompanied it was full of mirth. It makes her ease back down on the mattress and force her breathing to a slow cadence. (I'm kidding. Just kidding.)

The other men laugh and she partly calms at their positive nature. A pair of booted feet walks through the aisle and she shuffles away from the front of the bunk, plastering herself into the darkness.

"Time to sleep!" The one with the booted feet says, and she recognize it's Taka. She's so shocked he spoke in English that she couldn't stop herself from peering up at him. But just before she could poke her head out of the bunk, the men lumbers down the aisle and she scoots back before she could expose herself.

"Oyasumiiii~" Tomoya says and she hears the bunk above her creak.

She realizes that they're going to use the bunks, and she panics. Pressing herself to the back of the bunk, hoping that nobody is going to climb in and see her. She holds in a breathe as she waits for any of the men to clamber in with her.

The shifting of curtains, pillows, and blankets could be heard along with the wild beating in her chest. After a tense minute of silence, she exhales quietly. She decides that the cookie jar on the counter earlier would have to be the only thing she would take from the bus. And maybe the sleeveless shirt that's haphazardly thrown down the aisle in front of the bunk she's in too, when all the men has settled down and is obviously in dream land.

A snore comes from the bunk above her and she stiffles a giggle that threatened to spill from her lips. The men are so typical, she thinks.

"Hora, Taka. Mada nemuri?" A man says from the top bunks and she tenses. She thought they were already asleep; it seems it would be a long night for her. (Hey, Taka. Not going to sleep yet?)

"Kauchii. Ore no banku wa kirai da. I'll sleep on the couch." Taka says and goes to the couch in the kitchenette. (Couch. I hate my bunk.)

"Wakatta, ja..." The man from the top bunk says quietly and she listens for any more indications that the men were still awake. (Alright. Well then...)

An hour passes by, and everything is still and silent--save for the different volumes of snores. She slowly pokes her head out of the bunk and peers up at the other sleeping quarters. All the curtains are drawn closed and it's only then that she notices the digital calendar clock bolted on the top bunk.

It's Thursday, 8th of December, 3:54 AM. She realizes it's the first time in months that she knows the date and time. She shivers at the thought. She's not been home for a very long time. She's already forgotten what it's like, she's not even sure if she  _has_  a home.

Whoever she is, she has no idea.

All she knows is that  _He_ hates long hair, that's why she has a very short one. That  _He_ feeds her only twice everyday, in the morning and at night. That she's not allowed to leave  _His_ room lest she be attacked by  _His_ dogs. And that  _He_ only calls her  _Baita._  She doesn’t even know if it is really a name or just a Japanese word.

She abandons her thoughts violently as she shakes her head. She doesn’t want to think of the past. She has to focus on surviving now that she's free. And she is ecstatic that she is, but she suddenly remembers the man who helped her escape and her optimism plummets.

She didn't know who he was. Though remembering him now, she will not forget him. His dark hair and brown eyes, a touch that was familiar even though he'd only shoved her away to safety. And his voice that was still ringing and echoing in her head.

She knew him.

But she doesn't remember and she thinks she never will, because she's wrong in the head--that's what  _He_ tells her anyway.  _He_ tells her she's no one, that she's worth nothing. And now she's back to feeling scared again so she swallows the disgust and fear she's feeling. She climbs out of the bunk to disregard her thoughts and busies herself by freeloading on the stuff the bus has to offer.

She quickly eyes the opened cookie jar in the kitchenette again and moves to eat its contents. Her strides are quiet as she reaches for the jar. She doesn’t notice the man laying on the couch, tapping away at his phone, because she assumes that everyone--including this Taka guy who chose not to sleep in his designated bunk--is fast asleep. Only the driver left awake.

Apparently, she assumed wrong because the moment her hand is in the jar, Taka notices her immediately and stares wide eyed at her as she takes three cookies. She pops a cookie in her mouth and is about to retreat to the safety of the bunk, when she turns and sees the man gaping at her.

She runs for it, her muscles tensing for the bolt. If she needed to jump out of the moving bus, then she will, because if they are going to catch her and turn her to the police, then  _He_  is going to find her again.

She makes a leap down the hall but Taka is faster. He clamps a hand on her mouth, and traps her whole frame between his body and his other arm. She freezes in his hold, eyes looking frantic and wild like a cornered animal.

"Shhh, damare. Minna wa gussuri nemuru..." His lips are right beside her ear, and the feel of his breathe ghosts on her cheek. It sends a shiver down her spine and it isn't because of how intimately he whispered, or how scarily familiar his chest felt pressed to her back, but because she heard this man say  _damare_ and she's heard  _Him_ shout it to her so many times that she knows exactly what it means. (Shhh, be quiet. Everyone is fast asleep...)

He shushes her once more as his grip tightens and she's pressed so closely to him that she could feel every curve and plane of his body behind her. She holds her breathe, scared to make a sound and focuses instead on the sound of his eerily calm breathing.

"Saa, omae dare ka?" (Now then, who are you?)


	2. They Call Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Second chapter! Because I myself don't like cliffhangers. Please enjoy and tell me what you think of my work. Thank you for reading! :-)

"Saa, omae dare ka?"

Taka asks quietly and she's confused. She doesn’t understand him and so, she remains silent. Taka repeats his inquiry but she's unresponsive and still. He somehow senses her confusion and peers down at her. She sees his dark, curious but guarded eyes and feels his prying intentions, prompting her for an answer.

"E-English... I-- I don't..." She says through the hand that's on her mouth and Taka removes it.

"Nanda?" He asks and she shakes her head. (What?)

"I don't-- I'm not Japanese..." She says weakly and Taka is silent for a while, observing her. She takes his silence for dallying and struggles out of his grasp but he crushes her back to him. His arm tightening around her stomach and the other free hand taking hold of both her wrists.

"Don’t move." He says and she stiffens against him once more. 

"Please don't take me to the police." She says softly, fearfully, that Taka almost didn't hear her.

"I _should_ because you just snuck in private property and stearing our stuff." He says gruffly and this makes her tremble in his hold, truly scared now at the thought of having no chance to escape again. She felt as if he just sentenced her to her death. Glistening tears start pooling in her eyes and a few drops hit the exposed hand that held her.

"Please don't... please... I don't want to--" A sob makes its way past her lips and Taka is bewildered. He watches her for a few moments and sees unadulterated fear in the way her lips tremble and her brows furrow. He shouldn't be fooled by an act like this, but something tells him that the shivering of her body isn't from the cold but from genuine horror.

"O-Okay..." Taka says lamely seeing that she's as harmless as a fly, and takes the petrified girl to the couch. He holds her arms tightly, preparing to hold her down if she tries to bolt again, but she doesn't, she only sits on the couch. Taka monitors her every twitch. 

"Please, d-don't--Goshujin-sama is going t-to..." She hiccups as she frowns through a memory that's flashing before her eyes. (Goshujin-sama = Master)

"Okay, I'm not." Taka decides prematurely, surprised with his own muddled decision. "But you gotta tell me," He starts but the driver calls him.

"Taka-san? Nani ka mondai ga arimasu ka?" The driver asks from his seat and Taka sees the girl jump, he shushes her with a finger on her lips and turns to the driver. (Taka? Is there any problems back there?)

"Mondainai, Yamato-san." He replies cheerfully and the driver grunts, satisfied. (No problems here, Yamato.)

The girl eases just a little, sensing that Taka didn't reveal her. She remains quiet as she furiously wipes away the tears and furrows her brows in stubborn surrender. 

Taka gazes at her, observing her and only then noticing her state of undress. His eyes widen at the see through white baby doll and frilly panties, but what really caught his attention was the dried blood stains on the cloth, on her hands, and on her lap. She's still trembling and the paleness of her skin suggests that she isn't naturally porcelain skinned, so he turns around and spots one of his sleeveless shirts lying around.

He takes the shirt quickly, careful not to make a sound when his band mates are sleeping. He doesn't want them knowing about this situation until he's got it under control. He strides back to the girl and throws the shirt at her. She squeaks and eyes the shirt shockingly. 

"Put it on." He says sternly with an impatient hand gesture. "Although the ringerie is nice, I'd rather not have you freeze to death." He muttered to himself.

"H-Hai, Goshujin-sama." She mechanically does as she's told, like a good obedient child, and Taka flinches at the title she used on him. (Y-yes, Master.)

She's still looking down at her lap like a child caught red handed by a parent. Taka's getting tired of having no answers, and getting the silent treatment with how  _kindly_ he was handling the situation. He walks forward close enough that he knows she can see his feet. He goes down on his haunches and tilts her head to look her in the eye.

"So tell me," He prompts. "Why is a foreign girl hitching a ride and stearing cookies in Japan?"

The stubborn set in her eyes soften a little at his rather flippant question. She thinks this man is kind because he hasn't thrown her out yet and he gave her a shirt to wear. This is the most a person has been close to nice with her compared to the months she's endured with  _Him._ And she thinks she'd rather this stranger than the man she has been living with for months.

"I...I am..." She starts but the lump in her throat is a bit oppressive. She forces herself to swallow so she could calm down and give this man an answer. Right now, she sees him as a savior who she must please. Another means to survive. 

"Hmm?" Taka prompts and she gazes at his eyes. They're dark and full of wonder as he waits for her to tell him. She sees fascination running in his eyes and something she doesn't quite understand. She suddenly feels bashful, the heat she thought the snow outside erased, rushes to her cheeks. She looks away from him and wrings her wrists subconsciously.

"I'm... I'm-- _He--_ calls me  _Baita._ " She whispers as if she's telling him a secret, and the wonder in his eyes disappears, quickly replaced with simmering anger.

 _Baita? She's a prostitute?_ Taka thinks sourly and observes the girl in front of him. _But she said she's not Japanese? She looks Japanese to me._ He muses but an idea of what she is, is already forming in his head.

"Who is this person that called you this-- _this derogatory--_ name?" He asks, rage just thinly veiled.

She flinches at the intensity of his eyes, and sees the way he tenses when she introduced herself. She understands then what her pet name meant.

"G-Goshujin-sama did... I-- I don't know anything more." She admits as she lowers her gaze in shame.

Taka curses in Japanese and she bites her lip, afraid that his anger is directed at her. She feels a hand on her knee and she jumps. Taka removes it immediately and apologizes.

"Where did you come from?" He asks softly, putting a bit of distance between them so he doesn't scare her again. He sweeps his anger under the rug for now. He must get her answers first so he knows what to do with her. 

"I'm not sure... But I think I'm Asian." She answers meekly, and calms down now that he's a little bit distant from her.

"Think so?"

"Someone told me this word and I understand what it meant. I just..." She trails off, seemingly lost in thought. "It means run but... I forgot the word."

There is a snort and a chuckle and it catches her off guard. "Well, fuck." Taka says with an amused grin. She didn't expect a rather _positive_  reaction from him; instead she thought he'll continue with his detached interrogation of her. "You must be very _very_  confused then."

She nods and watches as he stands and strides to the kitchenette.

"Hungry?" He asks and opens the fridge and takes a plastic container with what she assumed is food inside. He places it in the microwave and presses a few buttons activating the device. The machine hums as it heats its content and Taka turns back to her.

"You know nothing then? Real name? Nationarity? Age? Birthday? Where you are? Why you're here?  _What_ you are?" Taka says slowly and she shakes her head with each inquiry. Taka didn't fail to notice her shift uncomfortably on the last question.

"All I know is that I'm 18 because... because..." She bites her lip and looks anywhere but at Taka. Ashamed of what she's about to say and what he's already thought of her. "Because I heard... before Goshujin-sama took me that I'm legally 18 and ready to be..." She stops, unable to continue.

She could feel Taka's gaze but she refuses to meet his eyes. She's about to plead that he stop staring at her, when the microwave dings and a few seconds later, the smell of food makes her stomach clench painfully.

"Here." Taka offers her the warm container and she sees that it's half full of food she doesn't know.

"That's Japanese curry, if you're suspicious. Rast night's leftovers, it's still edible though so don't worry. I'm not going to poison you." He says honestly but she's still not convinced.

He chucks a plastic spoon in the curry and shovels a heapful of the steaming morsel into his mouth. "There, see? No poison."

She's convinced that this man is indeed her savior.

She accepts the food and immediately devours it, groaning appreciatively as the rich taste hits her tongue and warms her insides.

"Thank you. Thank you so much, Goshujin-sama." She gives him a small hidden smile and goes back to eating.

Whatever this strange camaraderie between her and him, she'll take what she can get because this is better than dying alone in the middle of winter. Though she'll prefer death over  _Him_ any day.

"Uh, sure. But this doesn't mean we're friends." Taka says awkwardly and notices again the blood on her hands. "You're...not a murderer on the run are you?"

"No." She answers and Taka leaves her alone to finish her meal, that for all he knew, could be the only thing she's eaten in a long time. 

He is still bothered by the dried blood on her clothes and hands, and unintentionally wonders aloud what happened to her. "Why the hell are you covered in blood?" He muses loudly and fails to notice the subtle tension (almost as if she's learned how to hide it) in her body.

She looks down at her fingers and gags immediately at the sight of crimson. Unpleasant memories of dogs, her rescuer, and  _Him,_ bombs her thoughts and she throws up on the container.

Taka is on her a second later and is half dragging, half pushing her to the small bathroom. He takes the container from her hands and directs her to the tiny toilet bowl beside the sink where she retches for a few minutes.

"Taka-san? Nani ka--"

"Nanimonai yo, Yamato-san. Onaka no bagu dake desu." Taka cuts the driver off and fakes a few retching sounds. "Ore, iindayo." (It's alright, Yamato. Just a stomach bug. I'm fine.)

"Sou ka?" (Is that so?)

"Hai." Taka says mock miserably and the driver leaves them alone again. (Yeah.)

He notices that the girl is already finished throwing up and is already slumped beside the toilet, under the sink. He takes a towel from the rack and hands it to her. She takes it without argument and wipes her mouth with it. Taka dumps the contents of the container in the toilet and flushes it with a somber face.

 _Ah. What a waste._ He thinks sadly and throws the container in the trash bin.

"Mouthwash?" He offers and she nods mutely. Taka opens a small cabinet above the sink and grabs a mouthwash, he hands it to her too, and she rinses her mouth with it, spitting in the toilet. 

She sits back under the sink with a miserable expression, and Taka slumps on the cold tiles in front of her. They don't talk for a while, with her going through an internal monologue, and Taka just watching her and the emotions that flickered in her face. 

"I'm  _nothing._ " She says quietly after a while and Taka looks at her with interest.

"Nothing?"

"Hai, Goshujin-sama."

"Hmmm."

"You can call me  _Baita_ too. You're my new Master, aren't you?"

"Ami." Taka blurts out and she looks up sharply at him. He only shrugs.

"What?" She squeaks.

"I just gave you a name." Taka says, still gazing at her. And even though his gaze was a flattering one, a look that might have made her flush red, she maintained eye contact because something tells her this man is nothing like  _Him_ at all.

"Ami... What does it mean?" She asks a little apprehensively because a very small part of her thinks it might be another term for  _whore._

"Asian beauty." He smirks and she's slack-jawed, her eyes widen as a blush creeps to her face. 

"What--I'm--But-- _You--_ " She sputters indignantly, truly flattered and embarrassed now as Taka's amused smirk grew. 

"Me? Oh, they call me Taka." He grins, enjoying this teasing spree. And although he is teasing her he wasn't lying when he called her a beauty. She really was beautiful and Taka is honestly enjoying the company of a pretty, half-naked stranger. No matter how perverted it sounded, Taka was still amused by her wardrobe.

"That's not--I mean--I'm not really... beautiful." She stammers and looks down in embarrassment.

"Tsk tsk tsk. Such modesty. But I wonder," Taka pauses and takes a quick picture of her on his phone. She doesn't notice this, just looks down uninterrupted on the floor. "How did you get inside our bus?"

The girl, now named Ami, doesn't answer immediately. She draws her legs to her chest and wraps her arms around them. She makes herself as small as possible and hides her face between her knees.

"I am... was... a comfort woman." She stiffles a sob and Taka sees her struggling with her words.

"You don't have to tell me that... Just how you got here is all. And I'm not forcing you to so..." He says awkwardly as he rubs the back of his head.

"No, it's alright. I owe you as much, and I..." Ami trails off quietly, gathering courage to speak out honestly for the first time in a long time. "I haven't met anyone as kind as you. You... you're a gentle person, Goshujin-sama."

Taka gazes at her and she's pulled her head up from her knees to look at him. There's a sparkle of truth and genuine gratitude in her eyes, and Taka's breathe catches in his throat. She is  _indeed_ beautiful because that small almost imperceptible smile makes all the difference in her rather fucked up situation. So Taka smiles back genuinely, without amusement or teasing, and the moment has suddenly turned from somber and unusual, to warm and friendly

"Enough with this Goshujin-sama. Call me," Taka hesitates but goes on after a second of internal deliberation. "Takahiro-kun." He says with a charming grin.


	3. I Need Your Help

Somehow, that early morning, she was able to tell him of her lost identity. That she had been in an accident. All she remembers was being brought to  _Him,_ her body used like a toy for _His_ entertainment, and getting imprisoned in _His_  apartment's bedroom. She told Taka of her experience as a sex slave and how she knew she's eighteen years old.

Her story was rather quick to be told, and the last part that had been said was about an unknown man barging into the bedroom and helping her escape. She told him she doesn’t know the man and she may never know who saved her from that hell hole.

She told in frightening detail, how the dogs that kept her from escaping the bedroom, tore the unknown man's throat and yipped happily when  _He_ called them.

Taka listened silently, his face warping from sadness, to pity, to anger, and back to sadness. He thinks she's gone through a horrifying ordeal, and is lucky to have been saved. He wonders if the unknown man knew her if he risked his life saving her. He concludes that they will never truly know, because she said she felt sick leaving him there for dead when she could have asked for help.

Taka looks at his watch when she finished telling him what happened to her. She's nodding off onto her knees, and Taka notes that an hour and a half has already passed since he bizarrely met this girl he's named Ami.

Yamato told them that they'll reach the next live show venue in six hours and that's two hours away from the four hours that they've been travelling. He'll take the remaining two hours of sleep, and figure out later how he's going to tell the guys--and crew, well shit--of their new tour member.

He nudges Ami, who's dozing off, with his foot and she jumps, reacting wildly. Taka holds up his hands in mock surrender and she calms down at the sight of him.

_ Poor thing. _  Taka thinks and stands up slowly. He offers his hand and she stares at it in apprehension. 

"I'm not gonna hurt you. I _promise._ " Taka says earnestly and it's with amazement that he sees her nod and take his hand, because he thought she wouldn't trust anyone with what she's been through. He thinks he's either a genuinely nice person or, she just haven't had anyone be remotely kind to her since she's been abused really bad, and is soaking up all the kindness she's receiving out of survival. 

Taka thinks it's highly likely that it's the latter, since he feels like he's a naughty little shit with an occasional nice guy personality to those in need.

It's a good thing she stumbled upon their bus or else she would have frozen to death outside. Or worse, raped because a pretty face in a lingerie wasn't at all inviting perverts.

He pulls her to her feet and they shuffle out of the bathroom. Ami looks to him for instruction and it dawns on him that she's expecting him to order her around. He shakes his head and opens the fridge, rooting around for anymore leftovers. 

"Do you want to eat before resting?" He asks and she nods mutely, slightly cautious but also tired. 

"I think we still have some shitake soup here." Taka says and procures a bowl, heating it in the microwave and taking a clean spoon.

"Taka..." Ami says, softly at first, and then all at once with slight confidence. "Takahiro-kun."

"Yes?"

"Why are you doing this?" She asks quietly and Taka turns around. She's right behind him, backing away when he peered down curiously at her. She's so small and frail, and barely reaching his chin that she has to tip her head back just to look up at him. He's the smallest in their band but she's smaller than him, and it kinda boosts his ego that  _finally_ he's taller than someone for once. 

"You need help." Taka says in an apparent manner and she's struck with the horrible idea that he needs something in return. Old habits of doing what is required of her returns and she nods dumbly.

The familiar disgust curls in the pit of her stomach making her shiver. Nonetheless, she steels herself for what she's about to do because this must be the payment to his kindness. She thinks this new _Goshujin-sama_ is nicer than the last so she has to do her best if she wants him to keep her.

"H-Hai, Goshujin-sama." Ami replies emptily and fidgets with the hem of the sleeveless shirt he made her wear. She begins to discard the shirt, hiking it up her torso to reveal the white baby doll over a pale, too flat stomach, and Taka's eyes widens before he grabs her wrists and stops her from going any further.

She jumps at his sudden action but he ignores her. Determined to educate her on what she _doesn't_ have to do.

" _No, no, no._  You don't have to offer me anything. I don't need anything in exchange. I'm helping you because _you_ need it, because _I_ want to. This doesn't have a price." He explains firmly, looking straight at her wide brown eyes to emphasize his honesty in helping her.

"You're practicarry a blank slate and I seriously believe that every person is colorful and unique." He pauses for a second before continuing. "Yeah, uhm, okay. That sounded metaphorical."

He coughs into his balled fist and stuffs both his hands in his jeans pocket. Suddenly feeling awkward of his explanation because he _knows_ it's unusual. Hell, _this_ situation is unusual. 

"Let’s just say I'm interested on adopting you, only because I get this weird feering that you're a piece of art, a work in progress. And I'm going to invest on you by helping you get on your own feet."

Ami only looks at him with a curious expression and it makes him sigh in frustration. 

"I speak Engrish but I'm not that good in expressing my ideas in Engrish yet so..." Taka trails off, lost on what he's supposed to say next. 

There is a lapse of silence between them; neither speaks because of their thoughts. After a long almost comfortable silence she speaks up in reply to him.

"I understand, Takahiro-kun." She says with a nod. "You're... right. I need help and if--if you're okay with helping me then..."

Taka waits like a child for her answer, standing there wide eyed with anticipation as she processed her thoughts. It may be an abrupt decision but somehow Taka doesn't want to drive her away yet. Like he said, she is need of help and he knows he can lend a hand (or both hands and his feet), but in his thoughts she's someone so fragile that he wants to turn her into a woman  _too_ strong that nobody can touch her.

It's strange, really, but that's what he feels he could and should do for her. He doesn't think when he composes songs, he  _feels,_ and that is what she is in his whimsical mind. A beautiful song, a melody so lovely that everyone would listen. She will be his charge, and he will devote to her growth and development. 

But before anything else, he has to teach her confidence and self-worth. He can't have her thinking and feeling like she's dirty money in human form. No matter how appealing the idea of a woman offering herself to him is, Taka doesn't see her as an object that he can use for his own entertainment. She is a person of her own and he will teach her that she has her own mind and say. 

"I need your help, Takahiro-kun."

And that was music to his ears. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Shortest chapter yet. I'm not finished with the next chapter but it's almost there. Maybe 70% so it could be posted on the weekends. I hope you enjoyed these three chapters so far! Thank you for reading! :)


	4. One O' Clock

Ami didn't know how much longer she was supposed to hide in Taka's bunk bed. She had been smuggled to the other unoccupied top bunk to hide while the others were still asleep. He gave her a hoodie and socks to wear but no pants because they were all too big for her. She has been hiding for hours now but she can't get out even though there weren't anyone in the bus. 

Taka told her to stay hidden and she obeyed him. He's the only one she can count on now, and she's not about to make him regret helping her because of her misbehaving.

She peaks at the clock on the opposite bunk and sees that its 1:23 PM. Her stomach growls and she holds on to Taka's promise that he'll be back. But she doesn't know when and her hunger is starting to claw at her insides. The last thing she ate was the curry she threw up and the small bowl of shitake soup that early morning. She suddenly remembers the cookie jar she preyed on, and overthinks all possible scenarios that could happen if she were to go to the fridge and take it. 

Her stomach growls again and it's given her resolve to go down and take the cookie jar. She counts to ten first before climbing down from the top bunk. She hurries to the fridge and grabs the cookie jar. She sees a milk carton and contemplates whether she'll take it too. But hunger won again and she grabs the milk.

She's about to head back to the top bunk when the bus door hisses open. She panics and places the jar and milk into the hoodie pockets. She jumps to the top bunk but she can't reach it so she settles for the lowest bunk and crawls in. 

The person on the stairs laughs and then the doors close shut. Ami plasters herself to the back of the bunk and sees a pair of sneakers walk by. The person strides to the lounging area and then returns. She watches as the person exits the bus before releasing a long breath. 

She clambers out of the bunk and climbs slowly up the top. She draws the curtains closed and takes out the jar and milk from her pocket. She eats all of the cookies and downs the milk in one go. It doesn't quite fill her but the growling in her stomach ceases so she's content with that.

She dozes off after. 

\---

Ami wasn't aware how long she slept but the finger poking her in the knee shocks her awake. She jumps away from the finger and stares wide eyed at Taka who's peaking at her from below. 

"Come on, I got something for you." He says and disappears to the lounging area.

Ami stares at the spot where he stood and pokes her head out of the bunk. She sees Taka changing out of a shirt too big for him, and then put on a sweater and a coat. 

"Ami, come on." He says again as he slips on a pair of boots.

She obeys and climbs down the bunk.

Taka watches her go down and the way the hoodie on her rides up to reveal her frilly panties make him stare in delight. A smirk forms on his face but then he remembers himself and berates his naughty side. He doesn't want to scare her away by acting like a pervert so he directs his eyes to the paper bag in his hand. 

Ami drops from the bunks and walks over to him slowly. She either didn't notice that the hoodie had ridden up or she had lost all modesty with what she's been through. She seats haphazardly in front of him and Taka is sure that she's not bothered with modesty because he's never seen a woman seat so carelessly before. 

Nonetheless, Taka doesn't indulge himself by looking at her inappropriately and hands her the paper bag. 

"One of the crew is about your size." He tells her as she takes out the contents of the bag. 

A pair of black sneakers and yoga pants that looked like they would fit her, were placed on her lap as she folded the paper bag neatly. Ami eyes the articles and looks up at him. 

"Takahiro-kun..."

"Yeah?" He asks with a smile. "Go on. Try them on."

She does as she's told and tugs on the yoga pants in front of him. Taka dutifully averts his eyes and takes two beanies and two scarves from his cabinet in the lounging area. 

He wraps one of the scarves around his neck and puts the beanie on while pocketing a pair of sunglasses. He rifles through his cabinet for another coat and offers it to Ami who's finished dressing. 

"Here, put these on too." He hands her the scarf, beanie, and coat, and she quickly puts them on. 

"Cool, the coat looks big on you but you look normar enough so that's good." He says cheerfully and takes out his phone. He snaps a picture of her before pocketing the device. 

"What are we--" Ami begins but Taka tugs her along.

They step off of the bus and she sees the rows of busses parked alongside the one they came from. There are a few people milling about the busses but what catches her eyes the most is the white and gray arena right beside the parking lot. 

She stares at the huge circular architecture in amazement; the pupils of her eyes blown up until only a thin ring of brown circled them. "Wow." She says breathlessly and Taka gazes at her, amused. 

"There's a band playing tomorrow night. I... uhm, work for them... I'm the lighting director." He says and pulls her along. Some of the people they come across wave at him and he waves back.

"Everyone's off to the clubs and bars because we didn't get to celebrate last night's success. We all packed up and left immediately." He explains the lack of busy crew running about as he dons the sunglasses that he pocketed earlier. 

When they were away from the arena and turning at a block, Taka hails a taxi and they both get in. He directs the driver to the nearest mall and just twenty minutes later, they arrive at a minimalistic but beautiful establishment. 

"Arigatou." Taka pays the driver and the two of them enter the mall. 

Ami instinctively draws closer to Taka as they walked, anxiety vibrated off of her in waves and Taka can't help but notice. He offers her his arm in a non-threatening way and she looks at him, confusion clouding her pretty face. 

"If it makes you feel better, you can hold on to me. I won't let anything bad happen to you. I promised, didn't I?" He smiles warmly at her and it takes a second before she nods and wraps her arms around his extended one.

This makes Taka grin goofily. He almost comments that they look like a couple but he held his tongue because it wouldn't do to have her withdraw from him like he's a criminal. Even so, he enjoys that she trusts him enough to go along with him without much fuss.

After walking aimlessly (Taka was kinda lost) for a while, Taka takes them to a sushi bar and orders for them both. Ami sees a clock on the restaurant wall that says 8:04 PM and her suspicions of oversleeping has been confirmed. She observes Taka as he taps lazily on his phone while they wait for their orders, and notices that he's still wearing his sunglasses. 

"Takahiro-kun?" Ami starts and Taka's eyes immediately lift from his phone to her. She's beside him and so close that their thighs are touching. 

"Hm?"

"It's dark out and we're inside, and you're still..."

" _Ah._ " Taka clicks his tongue and grins. "I'm a famous lighting director, remember? Can't have everyone wanting my autograph, can we?"

He chuckles at that and takes a picture of her confused face on his phone. "Kawaii." He mumbles to himself and goes back to tapping on his phone. 

"I see." Ami replies quietly.

Their sushi arrived shortly and they start to eat in silence. Taka sees that she still hasn't touched her plate. He gulps down a bit of water and places his chopsticks down. 

"What's wrong?" He asks and Ami gazes up at him.

"Why is the fish... _raw_?"

Taka barks in laughter at that and Ami's face twists into a horrified one. 

"I'm--I'm sorry. I will eat it immediately, Goshujin-sama." Ami says in panic, taking the chopsticks and using it to spear a sushi with the whole unsplit wooden utensil. 

Taka laughs harder at what she did. 

"Love, you don't eat sushi that way." He chuckles and takes the chopstick speared sushi from her hands. 

"I'm sorry, Goshujin-sama. I'm so sorry!" Ami cowers beside him, head bowed and trembling in her seat. 

Taka feels her shuddering beside him and stops laughing. Guilt gnaws at his insides for enjoying her confusion and laughing at her ignorance. He puts the chopstick and sushi back on the plate and waves for a waiter. A uniformed man stops by their table and Taka orders for some katsudon and tea. When the waiter leaves, Taka places a hand on Ami's shoulder.

She jumps when his hand lands on her shoulder but she doesn't resist his gesture, she only bows her head deeper to try and hide from him. 

"Ami, I'm sorry about that..." Taka says awkwardly and clears his throat. "I assumed you eat sushi. I keep forgetting you're not Japanese because you _look_ like one."

"Forgive me if I upset you, Goshujin-sama. I will eat the fish even if it's raw, I--"

"No, none of that Goshujin-sama title. I'm not your Master, remember that. I'm... I'm your friend, okay?" Taka tells her as he tries to make her look at him. "And you can, you can rerax when you're with me. You don't have to be scared."

 _"I'm not gonna hurt you. I promise."_ She remembers Taka's voice that morning and it makes her relax beside him. Ami looks up at him shyly and she sees his worried face. 

"Takahiro-kun... Thank you." She says and Taka smiles at her. 

"You're welcome."

\---

After eating the katsudon he ordered for her and finishing his sushi, Taka paid for their meals and led her to a clothing store. 

"Uniquro, they have everything here. I think..." Taka tells her uncertainly and she looks back with the same skeptical look.

"Why are we here?" She asks as she grabs his hand with both of hers. 

He answers with a chuckle and pulls her inside. He looks over the clothes and spots the women's aisle. He walks to the racks with simple dresses and points at them. "Choose whatever you like, Love." Taka instructs her and looks for anything he could sit on. 

"What?" Ami squeaks and follows after him to a couch on the next aisle. 

"We're shopping." Taka winks at her and she looks at him dumbly. He sighs and stands up, walking back to the dresses. 

"Hmm. Okay, what's your favorite coror?" He starts and Ami stands beside him, dumbstruck. 

"Ami, Love. Help me out here." Taka beckons her to the dresses and she nods, obedient as ever. She picks a sleeveless navy blue one that reaches just above her knees and Taka calls for a salesperson.

A smartly outfitted woman approaches them and Taka asks for two sizes, one bigger and one smaller. The woman returns with two sizes of the same dress and Taka hands them to Ami.

"Try them on, let's see what fits you the best." Taka tells her kindly and turns back to the dress rack.

Ami nods and follows after the saleswoman to the fitting rooms.

\---

After trying on the two sizes, Ami thought the smaller one fit her best. She undressed and put her own clothes back on. She realizes that she's still wearing the bloodied baby doll and frilly panties when she put the hoodie and coat on.

Luckily, Taka offered to buy her something to wear. The babydoll is a reminder of her life as a sex slave. She's _very_ grateful to Taka. He's saved her and sheltered her even though she's no one to him. He's fed and clothed her, and she doesn't even know how to repay him. She only knows of one method of payment, and Taka's made sure she understands that that's not what he wants, that he expects nothing in return.

Still, she doesn't know how to thank him enough. She's so lost in thought that she almost didn't hear the knocking on the fitting room door. 

"Ami? How's it going there?" Taka asks from outside and she unlocks the door, emerging from the booth. 

"The smaller one is my exact size." She says in a small and shy voice. Taka nods and takes the right sized dress, placing the item in a basket and handing her two more dresses of her size. 

"I went ahead and picked some for you. You can choose more if you don't rike these. I'll be taking the bigger sized ones back. Try them on if you want." He says and leaves her to the fitting room again. She studies the dresses, and sees that they're the same style but different colors and designs than the first one she picked. She decides that she likes these too and places them in the basket. 

Ami picks the basket up and trudges to where Taka went. She sees him at the next aisle perusing a rack of printed black shirts. She approaches him and reads the prints on the shirts. 

"One ok rock?" She reads aloud and Taka shakes his head while clicking his tongue. 

"You read it as Wan-Oku-Roku. Like one o' clock but with a Japanese accent."

"Wan-oku-roku." Ami repeats dutifully. 

"There we go." Taka grins, and takes a large sized ONE OK ROCK shirt, placing it with the dresses in the basket.

Ami looks at the shirt curiously and Taka takes the basket from her. 

"Oversized shirts look cute on girls, ne?" He winks playfully and leads her through a few aisles. They stop at a women's bottoms aisle and Taka quickly eyes the high waisted denim shorts on a mannequin. 

"What do you say about shoutsu--err, I mean--shorts?" He clears his throat with the accent slip up and points at the mannequin wearing the denim high waists. 

Ami follows his finger and sees the shorts on display. She walks over to it and touches the fabric, admiring the simple yet pretty look it exuded. "I think I like shorts." She says, turning to him. 

There is a mischievous twinkle in Taka's eyes after that and he gestures at the stacks of other shorts in the aisle. "Pick maybe four or five. And maybe... how about skirts?" He suggests and points at the opposite aisle with different skirts on display. 

Ami looks at the skirts aisle and nods excitedly. She begins picking shorts in her size and Taka brings another basket. She places four shorts in the new basket and bounds over to the opposite aisle. She picks three skirts and Taka asks that she fit the pleated one with the suspenders. She does as he asks because she thinks it would please him and that it did because he whistled appreciatively at her. 

"That's nice." Taka grins, his eyes holding an unusual sparkle in them, and it makes Ami blush to the tips of her ears. She bites her lip to keep from grinning too and goes back to the fitting room to get back in her old clothes. 

She feels weird and warm, but it's a  _good_  feeling. Not unlike the way  _He_ makes her feel.  _He_ makes her feel empty and disgusting, and all she wants to do is claw out of her own skin. Everytime _He_ touches her, she just shuts everything out and waits for it to be done.

But with Taka... Taka is different. Taka makes her feel  _safe._ This is the first time that she enjoys living, and it is because of this man who's buying her things she could never afford. 

"Ami, you done? Mall's about to close in about an hour." Taka's voice drifts from outside and she finishes putting on her hoodie. She exits the fitting room and sees that Taka has a third basket in hand. This one is full of dark colored shirts and blouses, and two shoe boxes. She takes the third basket from him and they proceed to the couch. 

"I went and got you shirts and blouses in your size too." He laughs and points at the shirts.

Ami smiles at him and he smiles back.

"I tried to guess your shoe size but I wasn't sure yet, so I asked for two sizes." Taka puts the baskets down and took one of the boxes in hand. He opened it and presented her with a pair of dark platform boots. "Okay, try this on."

Ami sits on the couch and proceeds to remove a sneaker from her foot. She tried the bigger size first and then removed the other sneaker. She then tried the smaller size on the other foot and walked a few paces. 

"How does it fit?" Taka asks from the couch. 

"The smaller one feels better." She replies and paces some more. 

"Size 21? Okay," Taka turns to a saleswoman and holds on to the size 23 shoebox. "Ano, sore desu. Nijuichi-saizu, onegaishimasu." (Uhm, we'll take that one. The size 21, please.)

"Hai, shitsureishimasu." The saleswoman bows and takes away the bigger sized shoe that Ami had already removed and handed over. (Yes sir, please excuse me.)

"Okay, off to the pants, and socks, and coats, and scarves!" Taka pulls her along.

\---

They exit the store with Taka carrying 5 huge paper bags. Ami wanted to carry them all because  _Goshujin-sama I should carry them,_ she said but Taka insisted on being a friend and not a  _Goshujin-sama_ to her, so he took all the bags in hand. He led her to another store where they sell luggage bags and let her pick what she wanted. 

Ami chose a red one with violet lining. She and Taka took turns putting all the clothes they bought into the paid luggage bag. They were about to head back to the arena when Taka abruptly stopped beside her. 

"We have extra tooth brushes at the bus. The only things you don't have yet are..." Taka mumbles the last part and then chuckles. "We still have 20 minutes. Let's go."

"Go where?" Ami follows after him. 

"Have you ever heard of Victoria's Secret?"

\---

"Konbanwa, Okyaku-sama." A saleswoman bows and greets them when they enter the luxurious store. (Good evening, Sir and Madame.)

"Arigatou." Taka bows too and gestures to the girl beside him. "Kanojo no suriisaizu wa... eto..." (Her measurements are... uhm...)

Ami looks at him curiously as if she understood that he _knows_ what her vital statistics are. He feels his cheeks warm and he shakes his head thinking it would erase the splashes of pink on his cheeks. For a self proclaimed  _hentai_ he sure is blushing like a virgin buying his girlfriend her first lingerie. 

"Do you know your...?" He asks uncertainly and bows his head when Ami replies with a simple  _I don't._

"Ahh, subarashii." He sighs sarcastically and turns back to the still smiling saleswoman. No doubt she's entertained customers like him before because her welcoming smile is still as warm as when she first greeted them. (Ah, wonderful.)

"A70 to sumoru, darouka?" Taka instructs the saleswoman with uncertainty, but the woman only smiles and shows Ami around. (32A and small, I think?)

"Go on." Taka tells his dark haired charge when she looked back expectantly at him. "Choose whatever you like."

Ami nods and follows the saleswoman to the bra and panties section. 

Taka watches with a smirk as Ami inspects a few pairs of undergarments. He takes his phone out and snaps a picture of her just as she was picking up a lacy red panty. He's already made a folder in his phone dedicated to stolen pictures of Ami which he claims is his _portfolio of investment_. In reality, he's just fascinated with her because she's unusual and magical in a way. 

She doesn't know him like the world knows of him, she knows him as Takahiro-kun, the man who's helping her get back on her feet. She doesn't know about Taka the ONE OK ROCK vocalist, and Taka is determined to keep her out of the showbiz limelight. He doesn't want her to get in the drama and politics of being famous because he's protecting her this way. She isn't ready for this and neither is he. 

He's content with their simple moments together. They're only beginning with their friendship after all. They're _strange_ friendship, that is. 

"Takahiro-kun, what's your favorite color?"

Taka's head snaps up to meet her gaze and she repeats her question. 

"My favorite coror?" Taka pauses to think. "Everyone assumes it's black but that's my  _second_ favorite coror." He says and points at a deep red silk nightgown with gold lace trimmings. "Red is my top one coror."

Ami follows his pointed finger and admires the beautiful piece of sleepwear. "I want that then. For Takahiro-sama." 

Taka laughs and watches her point at the nightgown so the saleswoman can give her one in her size. Ami takes the night gown and other undergarments with her in the fitting room. She emerges a few minutes later in the deep red nightgown and black silky panties.

Taka bites his lip.  _Wow._  He thinks as a smirk forms on his face.  _Wow indeed._ He nods approvingly as she twirls in the night gown.

"Iroppoi..." He mumbles with a grin and Ami smiles at him. (Sexy...)

"Is it okay, Takahiro-kun?" She asks slyly as she looks at him over her shoulder, and Taka is entranced. 

"Better than okay. You look great!" Taka gives her a thumbs up and she laughs in delight.

She goes back to the fitting room to try on the rest of the garments so she can check if A70 and small were really her size. 

Taka sighs as Ami disappeared to the fitting rooms. He couldn't stop himself from grinning so he just bit his lip to control himself. He couldn't describe what Ami is. He thinks she's cute but then she goes and shows him a sexy side of her. He thinks she's quiet but then she goes and shows him a fun personality (and he likes it _very_ much).  He thinks she's still scared but she's shown him a ridiculous amount of trust in less than 24 hours. 

 _She's so magical._ Taka thinks and plays with the red luggage bag he bought her.  _She even coincidentally chose my favorite coror. Ah, what a surprise._

She's one in a billion and Taka is  _thrilled_ that she found her way to him.

\---

When they got out of the mall, it was about to close. Taka adjusts his sunglasses and hails for a cab. The two of them slid in when a taxi arrived, and Taka instructed the driver where he wants to go. It was already 10:24 PM and they arrived at their destination in 15 minutes. 

Taka paid the fare and he and Ami hopped off of the cab. A beautiful building towered above them, it had a warm glow that was inviting and added a homey feel to it. 

Ami began to admire the building but was cut short when Taka walked towards it. She follows after him, entering through the revolving doors. A finely uniformed man greets them and they proceed to a circular marble table where a woman stood smiling.

"Okaerinasaimase, Goshujin-sama, Oujo-sama." The woman greets with a bow and Taka bows too. (Welcome, Sir and Madame.)

"Oujo-sama no namae wa nani desu ka?" The woman asks as she turns to Ami. (May I please know of the Madame's name?)

"Uhm..." Ami looks at the woman blankly before looking up at the man beside her. She quirks her head to the side, indicating that she has no idea what is going on. 

"Ah, kanojo na namae wa Ami... ano... Moriuchi Ami desu." Taka supplies with a nervous laugh. (Oh, her name is Ami... uhm... Ami Moriuchi.)

"Hai." The woman smiles and types on the computer in her desk. 

"Soshite, Goshujin-sama no?" The woman turns to Taka expectantly. (And your name, Sir?)

"Moriuchi Takahiro desu."

"Moriuchi," The woman types but pauses abruptly. "Moriuchi... Takahiro desu ka?" (Takahiro... Moriuchi, is it?)

"Hai." Taka clarifies with a nod.

"Taka?"

"Hai?" Taka asks and then recoils, cursing.

"Sugoii! Watashi no denwa ni shomei shite kudasai?" The woman giggles and jumps in her seat. (Cool! Could you please sign on my cellphone?)

"Eto... okay." Taka shrugs, looking back at Ami with an uneasy smile. He signs on the phone presented and the woman bows and thanks him profusely. 

She asks for a picture with him but Taka turns her down. He apologizes and explains that it's very private and a security risk if his whereabouts are known publicly. The woman promises not to tell anyone or post it on social media, and Taka agrees reluctantly. The woman thanks him again with vigor and they proceed with their transaction.

Ami watched the whole thing in silence because she doesn't know how to react to it. She stood there awkwardly through the whole exchange until Taka is handed a card, and the two of them walk away from the woman to an elevator. 

As the doors of the lift slid close, Ami takes Taka's unoccupied hand in hers. The small space of the elevator makes her nervous so she counts along with the elevator floor indicator to ease her mind and calm her nerves. The weird pulling sensation stops and then there's a  _ding._ It's the 11th floor and they set off to find the room with the same number as the card that Taka was given. 

"One, one, eight. One, one, nine. One, one--oh--Here we are! One, one, zero." Taka exclaims and taps the card on the door knob. The door clicks softly and Taka pushes it open. 

"Takahiro-kun this is..." Ami refuses to step inside even when Taka is pulling her along.

"Huh?" Taka looks back at her with a raised brow. 

"Why are we... what are we going to..." She says uneasily as she takes a step back. 

Taka understands then why she suddenly became wary of him. He curses and closes the door as he steps out of the room.

"Ami, I'm not gonna hurt you, alright? We'll take it slow--fuck, that didn't sound good." He sighs frustratingly at himself. "Okay, first. I don't think I can hide you in my bunk forever. So..."

"So you're going to stay here for a while. Just for two days, max." Taka explains condescendingly. 

Ami watches him, the wariness and panic she felt lessened immensely at what he said. She gives him a small shy smile, indicating that she understands. 

"Okay." Replies Ami and Taka continues by grasping both of her hands in his. 

"I'm not imprisoning you, arright? I'll give you the key card and you can order food as much as you want. Just don't go too far that you don't know how to go back, 'kay?"

"Okay."

"When I go, I won't be back until tomorrow night. But I'll be back." He tells her. Gently, he let go of her hands and moved to open the door. "I have to go to work tomorrow so I'll just make sure you're okay in here and then I'll go."

Taka strides into the room with the luggage bag in tow, setting it at the foot of the bed. He checks the TV and phone and also the bathroom before turning back to Ami who has already walked in and shut the door. 

"Do whatever you want here. There's the phone. They have speed dials for food service. They probably speak English because this is a big Hotel, so..." Taka tells her with an easy grin. "Will you be arright for a while? Until I return?"

Ami sits on the edge of the bed, running her hand through the soft comforter. She studies the room and sees that it's bigger than the one she's been imprisoned in.

Taka couldn't see her face, she's got her back to him and all he sees her do is play with the fabric of the comforter. Her shoulders begin to shake and Taka becomes alarmed.

"Takahiro-kun, thank you. Thank you so much." She began but a sob makes its way past her throat, cracking her voice. Her eyes begin to water and immediately as they formed, fat tears flowed down her cheeks. 

"Aw, Love. Don't cry. You're welcome. You're welcome." Taka laughs and rushes to her. He kneels in front of her and gently tilts her head to face him.

"It's just---you're so---" She hiccups and holds onto his hands. "So, so nice to me. I never thought I'd--" She sobs. "I'd have so much given to me. I thought I'd  _die_ there! That I would never be free. And if it weren't for the man who got me out of there, I would never really  _live_."

Taka wipes her tears and squeezes her hands assuringly. He wanted to be her anchor in her moment of weakness. 

"It took the life of someone I do not even know. The price of my freedom. I am so confused, because I'm no one and yet--" She shakes her head and stifles her sobs with her own hands.

"He took the risk. He died for me. I'm so grateful for that man. He saved me not only from _Him_ but also from myself. He's my hero." She chuckles miserably at this. "And after him, it's you. Takahiro-kun, you..."

She looks at him, her cheeks puffy and tear stricken. Taka holds her gaze and he finds himself captured by her brown orbs. So much emotion swirled in her eyes, and Taka's heart breaks with a realization that he unlocked just by seeing her eyes.

It was there in the windows of her soul, the reality that she _almost_ took her own life. 

"Takahiro-kun, I wanted to  _die._ " Hearing her say it is painful, his breathe taken away and he can't inhale no more. Taka hangs his head, feeling empty and lost by her admission. But her hand on his cheek feels like liquid life blooming from the tips of her fingers, so he looks up at her, 

"That man, he's given me another chance at life. It's almost as if he's delivered me to you.  _You_ who's doing so much for me. I can never thank you enough. The two of you, you've made me  _want_ to _live_." Ami says with so much conviction that Taka is speechless. His heart beats hard in his chest and he feels the sudden urge to be protective of her. 

"So I've thought of a way. I want to repay you." She tells him determinedly. "If you'll have me, I'll be of service to you. I can be your assistant; I can do some basic things and chores."

"Repay me?" Taka starts but Ami immediately elaborates. This complete 360 in her personality took him by surprise. 

"I know how to read and write in English but in Japanese... I think I would be able to learn Japanese too. I know how to operate a computer, I think I'm good at Math, I can clean anything too. That's all I did when  _He_ wasn't around... “She says shyly.”If it comes to it... I've cleaned wounds before and... And... Dead bodies."

" _Nani?_ " Taka almost screams. (What?)

Ami recoils a little and bows her head grudgingly.

"Goshujin-sama... he brought this man to the apartment. He shot the man and left, but the man was still alive so I... tried to heal him with the first aid kit. But Goshujin-sama, he returned and--and shot the man again."

"The man... he died...  and he was so kind to me. He talked to me about the world outside, his English wasn't good but I was so glad to talk to someone, so I... cleaned him up before Goshujin-sama's people came and took his body." She finished sadly and her story makes Taka wonder what other cruel things she went through.

"Ami..." Taka calls to distract her and get her attention on him. "You're _safe_ now. You'll be safe here with me."

"Takahiro-kun."

"You don't have to do anything now. You don't have to work for me. You're free." Taka tells her earnestly with a smile. "I'll take care of you. So don't you worry about anything."

"Hai, Takahiro-kun." She smiles back and the solemn mask that she wore has now disappeared, replaced by the brightness of her smile.

"Why don't we go to sleep?" Taka gestures to the bed and Ami nods.

She crawls over to the foot of the bed and opens the luggage bag. Retrieving a few articles of clothing, she tells him she'll get ready for bed and disappears to the bathroom.

Taka watches her go. He lies on the bed over the covers and takes out his phone.

 _I'll be late._ He texts the three members of his band and nobody bothered to reply. They were probably too drunk to notice that he's run off from their bar night.

Taka thinks about Ami and her admissions. He got bothered that she almost took her own life but it got trampled down immediately because the unknown man that saved her got her out just in time. She wasn't the only one grateful for him because Taka is too. And just like Ami said, it's as if he's delivered her to him.  He wants to honor the man's sacrifice by taking her in. 

Suddenly, Taka remembers this _Goshujin-sama_ that has put Ami through hell. He immediately thinks about the amount of violence the man has committed and one word spears through his thoughts. _Yakuza._ Taka thinks disgustingly and tries to piece some of the jumbled information he knew about them.

Unfortunately, he knows nothing but he's friends with someone who does. So he sends that person a message. _I need your help._

The person doesn't reply and Taka's too tired to follow up another message. He tries to wait for Ami so he can say good bye to her and go back to the bus, but his eyes droop shut just as the door of the bathroom opens.

Ami finds him asleep on the bed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is late. I'm sorry!!! I didn't get a chance to go online yesterday. But here it is! I don't think I like how this turned out. Half of this I made at 1 am lol because that's the only time I don't get interrupted and at peace. So I still hope you enjoyed this chapter because I don't. It feels rushed. :( Also, I am not Japanese so all these Japanese is wearing me out hahaha Thank you google translate and my trusted Eng-Jap dictionary.
> 
> Thank you for reading!!! :-*


	5. I Don't Want To Hurt You

Taka woke up to the ringing of his phone. Groaning, he fished for it under his pillow where he usually put it before going to sleep. His hands found nothing jolting him awake with the realization that, he  _didn't_ put his phone under the pillow last night. He sits up quickly and eyes his surroundings. 

He isn't in the bus couch nor his bunk bed. 

Turning to the sound of his phone, he finds it under his thigh. He takes the phone and answers the call without looking at the caller ID. 

"Who's this?" He says gruffly in Japanese and pulls his feet to the edge of the bed. He looks at his wrist watch and his eyes widen at the 9:34 AM glaring at him in vibrant red. 

 _"Where are you?"_ The person on the line questions back in furious Japanese. 

"Ah, I'm on my way back. Just looking for a taxi." Taka lies as he hears Ryota's voice on the line. 

_"Where'd you go last night? We didn't even see you leave."_

"Some sushi bar. Anyway, I'm coming. See you in a while."

 _"You better fucking hurry. The last of the equipment is set. Rehearsal's starting."_ Ryota says anxiously through the phone.

"Yeah, yeah. Bye."

 _"Bye bye... Okay, why is there a missing string... It's still turned off..."_ Ryota says distractedly not bothering to end the call.

Taka ends the call and rubs his face with his hands.

"Shit. Fuck.  _Shit._ " He curses as he lies back on the bed. 

Taka's head lands on something very soft just as a squeak reaches his ears. He peers up to look at the pillow that emitted the sound but is surprised to see the brown eyes staring down curiously at him.

_Breast pillow and pretty girl? Yum._

"Kore wa... yume ka?" He asks the woman. (This is... a dream, isn't it?)

"I don't understand, Takahiro-kun." She replies and her voice rings with familiarity in his head. 

_Takahiro-kun._

"Fuck!" Taka screams and jumps to his feet, truly awake now as he paws at his clothes. "Oh my god. Ami, I'm sorry! We didn't...? You know--?"

He finally realizes that he's fully clothed and so is she, but fully clothed wasn't exactly the right term for her attire. 

She's in the red silk nightgown he bought her last night and a quick glance down her waist confirms his suspicions that the matching dark silk panties is also on her form. Taka didn't mean to stare but the inner  _hentai_ in him just refuses to steer his gaze away. 

"Are you going to work, Takahiro-kun?" Ami asks and Taka is broken from the entrancing spell of the silk panties. He looks down at his wrist watch and nods his head dumbly.

"I thought you were supposed to go last night?" She continues.

"I..." Taka scratches the back of his head, looking back at her. She's standing now and folding the bed covers neatly.

Taka watches her work on the duvet. He couldn't stop staring because the window curtains behind her were drawn open and the early pale orange rays were forming a silhouette around her figure. She was a pretty sight and Taka just couldn't help it when his eyes always dart to her.

"...fell asleep." He laughs lamely and pockets his phone. 

"When will you be back?" Ami asks timidly as she finishes with the bed cover. 

Taka distracts himself from gaping at her by striding to the bathroom. He splashes water on his face to remove the weariness and traces of sleep, and sees a pair of toothbrushes prepared beside the sink. 

"Tonight. Maybe 10?" He answers and takes one of the brushes so he can at least be presentable when he returns to the arena. 

"O-okay, Takahiro-kun." Ami tells him from the bathroom door and he whips his head to regard her. "I'll wait for you."

She's smiling at him and Taka's lips quirk into a grin, toothbrush and toothpaste suds on his mouth and goat patch. He finishes brushing his teeth by rinsing and toweling his face dry.  He strides out of the bathroom and straight to the phone beside the bed. Dialing in just one number he orders for some food and asks if they speak English.

Satisfied that the order is on its way and the staff's English were easily understandable, Taka lowers the phone and seats on the edge of the bed. 

"You should wear a robe. Food's coming. The staff would draw straws on who gets to serve this room every time if they see you in that." Taka grins at her teasingly. He expected her to shy away from his comment but she only smiled forcedly and shrugged. 

"I don't mind."

Taka's face fell. He shakes his head in frustration and rubs his face tiredly. Resting his head on his palms, he gathers the courage to ask her something that he knows would hit hard.

But he knew that he has to _know_ , because she didn't go into detail how _that man_ debauched her so thoroughly that she has forgotten that she has a choice in her privacy. All she told him was _my body was used in more ways than one_. And it haunts him that he's in the dark about this and that there's nothing he can do about it because what's done is done, and cannot be undone. And all Taka can do is try and fix what's left of her. 

 

So he steels himself for the conversation that would lay her bare to him once again. 

"What was the worst he did to you?" He asks hollowly, not willing himself to look at her in the eyes and see the fear and disgust he expects in her brown orbs.  "What did he do that made you throw away your modesty? Your self-value? Your _life_?"

Ami stiffens but Taka doesn't see. She stands there just an arm’s reach away from him, frozen and suddenly feeling nervous. Unpleasant memories flash in her eyes and she's left trembling, almost weak on her knees as an onslaught of repulsion crawled on her skin. 

She looks at Taka helplessly, seeking warmth from him, a small gesture that would tell her that it would be alright. But Taka is quiet and still, looking down and face hidden in his hands. 

"Taka--" Ami didn't get to finish calling him because her voice fails--cracking into a whimper--making Taka's head snap up to her, dread coloring his face.

"I mean, you don't have to tell in detail!" Taka amends when he sees her pale face. He feels horrible now because he thinks he's pushed too much too fast, and that she's crumbling before him again. A sense of deja vu washes over him and he curses, feeling stupid and mean. 

Ami's knees buckle and give out on her but Taka catches her quickly. Gathering her in his arms, he places her on the bed and seats beside her. 

Her trembling ceases immediately at his touch but the disgust is still clear in her eyes. Taka sees this just as he expected and moves to hold her hand and rub soothing circles on her knuckles. 

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have. I wanted to know... It's just--I'm _sorry_. You _really_ don't have to." Taka apologizes sincerely as he looks her in the eyes, trying to convey that he's not pushing her.

But she's quiet now, eyes locked with his in a battle of trauma and trust behind those brown orbs. 

"Let's just forget--"

" _The first time he touched me, he hit me_."

It was a shock for both of them when Ami spoke. Her eyes were wide, surprised by her own words. Taka couldn't speak but his eyes implored the horror he felt when he heard her. 

It was hard for her to tell but she trusts him. Trusts him _implicitly._ He's the only person in the world she would trust with her  _life._ The admission comes from the deep seated trust that she's put on him.

"I cried and screamed when it happened. I fought but he  _liked_ it. So I stopped fighting when I realized." Ami said, strangely calm but her fingers are trembling again in his hands. "I let him have his way. I thought he would get bored and then stop if I didn't fight back."

"I'm sorry I asked. You don't have to tell me." Taka tells her softly because he regrets it horribly now that she's probably seeing what happened to her in the back of her eyes.

"I don't want to hurt you." He says resolutely but it falls on deaf ears.

It's his fault, he _shouldn't_  haveasked, _shouldn't_ have refrained from giving his emotional support in the matter. Now he's dealing with the blow, the inevitable hurt that's gonna cost her and  _him_ too, if this goes on. 

"He brought some of his men over." Ami continues, unusually detached with how she said it and Taka flinches at the knowledge. "They took turns."

Taka swallows hard when she added the last part. His own hands began trembling along with her. His face is pained compared to her eerily calm, almost serene one. 

"He tied me to the bed once. There were whips. I was blind folded. I bled for days. I got scars in my back."

"Love." Taka calls for her but she's so far away now, she's not responding to him anymore. Even when his hands subconsciously reach for her back to confirm the scars. Long ridges of soft flesh marred the skin there and Taka's stomach turns.

"I had long hair. He  _hates_ it. So he cut my hair, he cut it all off. Along with a patch of skin. It doesn't grow behind my left ear anymore." Ami says sadly and Taka's eyes jump from her empty eyes to the uneven growth of hair behind the said ear. 

"Ami,  _please_."

"The scars were ugly so he erased them by burning me with cigarettes and it--"

" _Ami_ \--"

"--hurt so much I fainted and--"

"-- _stop_ \--"

"--then he brought a tattoo artist, he had all the scars properly erased. I don't know what he put on my back. But it  _hurt--_ "

" _Yamette_ \--" (Stop--)

"He went home drunk just a week ago I think, I hid under the bed but he dragged me out and beat me until I couldn't breathe and--"

"-- _mou ii yo--_ " (--that's enough--)

"--he especially liked to choke me when he _fucked_ me _\--_ "

"-- _kizutsuketakunai yo-_ -" (--I don't want to hurt you--)

"--there was this one time--"

" _Dakara onegai--_ " (So please--)

"--he fucked my a--"

 _Riiiiiiiiiiiiing._  

The two of them jump and blink, unshed tears dripping simultaneously from their eyes. 

Taka didn't notice that his cheeks were wet; he only did when he tasted the saltiness on his lips. He roughly wipes the tears away and proceeds to the door. 

"Gaishokusan desu!" The person on the other side announces and Taka wrenches the door open with a little too much force. (Food service has arrived!)

The staff flinched when the door was opened and he wheeled the food trolley in with a look of hesitancy directed at Taka. 

Taka notices the staff's uneasiness and apologetically smiles a little. "I'm sorry. Bad morning and I'm starving." He tells the staff in Japanese and the man seems to understand where his rudeness came from.

"I'll be off then, Sir." The staff says humbly and quickly, bowing to Taka before closing the door softly behind him.

There is a moment of silence where Taka just stares at Ami, who had her back turned to him on the bed. He sees it now, the head of a red and green dragon in the middle of her upper back, snaking down as it disappears to the expanse of her red silk covered skin. It is a huge tattoo and Taka wonders how he didn't notice it sooner. 

He stalks to the trolley and removes the food cover, taking the bacon and eggs with him to the bed. He seats in front of Ami and offers her the food.

Ami glances tiredly at the plate, wipes her own tears mechanically, and accepts the food. Using a fork, she proceeds to take small bites of the bacon in suffocating silence. 

Taka opens his mouth and closes it a second later. He does this a few more times before sighing and settling for lying back on the bed. His head near her left knee as he watches her eat. 

Halfway through her plate Taka speaks to her, breaking the unbearable silence between them.

"I hurt you."

The fork speared bacon stops before it reaches her lips. Ami looks down at him, brows furrowed and lips turned into a frown. 

"You did not."

"I hurt your feelings."

"Takahi--"

"I did." Taka insists and Ami has to put the fork down to argue with him.

"I chose to tell you." She says quietly and Taka seats up to talk to her properly.

"But I asked an insensitive question. I had no right demanding from you. It was stupid and mean of me. I don't want you to go through that hell again, even if it's in your mind. I won't subject you to some mindfuckery--I am no sadist--so I'll stop with the questions." Taka glances at her meaningfully before bowing low and proper. 

Ami purses her lips and then sighs. She puts the plate aside and moves closer to Taka. She weakly pulls him up by his shoulders and awkwardly pats his head, like a person would their pet dog. The gesture doesn't go unnoticed by Taka, but he lets it go. He's not about to subject her to another one of his insensitive questions. 

"There's nothing I can say but thank you, Takahiro-kun." Ami says softly. 

"I'm sorry, Ami." Taka says regretfully and takes the hand that's on his head in his hands. 

"It's okay." She replies with a shaky smile. 

"I'm so sorry."

"I'll be alright."

Silence grows between them where Taka rubs his stomach in deep thought. 

"All I had to say was put a robe on and shit went downhill from there. Remind me not to tell you what to do." He says distractedly as Ami retrieves the plate.

She sees him eye the food and offers him the rest of it. 

"Arigatou." Taka says and eats the remaining half. 

"But you're right though." Ami starts. "Thank you. For telling me that I am my own."

"I'm just... okay, I am still sorry."

"What should I do for the rest of the day?" Ami swings the conversation into a lighter one and Taka thinks for a while.

"Do whatever you like." He says with a smile as he gives her a credit card that he took from his wallet. 

\---

_"Where the fuck?"_

"Finally in the cab."

 _"Mori-chan, seriously?"_ Ryota says in furious Japanese and Taka cringes away from his phone. 

"I'll be there in ten minutes. _Bye_!" The vocalist hangs up immediately and hails a cab. He lied, but Ryota didn't know that so Taka hops in the yellow car and directs the driver to the back parking lot of the Arena they're going to perform in. 

"Ah, can we get there in ten minutes?"

The driver only grunts and steps on the gas. 

\---

Taka pays the driver when they arrived at the Arena. He dashes to the bus and strips off the coat and scarf. He changes into a new shirt and runs to the Arena crew entrance with an easy grin.

"You!" A man angrily shouts from a flight of stairs. 

"Asuma! Hey!" Taka greets with a mischievous smirk and darts past the angry man.

"You're an hour late! How could this happen? This never happened before! There's a schedule! You didn't even tell me where you're going! We have to cut rehearsal by four songs! The three had to start without you! What did you even do? Where were you even? What the  _hell,_  Moriuchi-kun?!" The man called Asuma raged as he followed Taka up the stairs. 

A crew member hands him his earpiece and helps him put the device on. Taka thanks the female crew and turns at the corner that had a _STAGE_ sign and arrow pointing to it. 

"Moriuchi-kun!" A cry came behind him.

"I was out drinking." Taka glances at Asuma who's following after him. 

"All alone?" His manager asks skeptically, anger suddenly quelled in favor of curiosity. 

"Yes."

"That's... new."

"Only me and booze."

"That's miserable, Moriuchi-kun."

"Tell me about it."

"But that's not my point!" Asuma shouts irritably. 

"Okay, I _promise_ to take you with me the next time I go drinking my ass off so I'll have a drinking buddy." Taka concedes with a grin.

"I just don't want the schedules to go haywire, you know that right?" Asuma asks sagely. 

"I know." The vocalist answers flippantly as he climbs a narrow flight of stairs, leaving Asuma at the bottom.

"But I'm still up for that drink." Asuma shouts jovially and Taka gives him a thumbs up.

"You're treating?" He grins cheekily. 

"Well, fuck you too." Asuma laughs and Taka hops onto the stage. 

He sees Asuma down the stage conversing with their director, and Taka turns his microphone. 

"Hello, mic test." He mumbles into the mic and he hears his voice in his earpiece. 

"Look who decided to show up." A palm lands on his ass in a harsh slap and Taka retaliates by doing the same on the person who assaulted him. 

"Good to be back?" Taka says a bit uncertainly but smirks nonetheless. 

"Toru's furious. He's been calling you." 

"Yeah, I saw." Taka replies and pats his jeans pocket where his phone is. "Where are they, by the way?"

"Went for a nap. You're an hour late." Ryota says as a crew hands him his bass. 

"Taxi's hard to come by."

"Really though?"

"Yeah. Always off duty at night." Taka lies flawlessly.

Ryota studies him for a few seconds with furrowed eyes. "You were drinking alone?" He asks curiously. 

"Yeah."

"Why? Something wrong?" The bassist follows up quickly, a wavering sliver of worry in his tone. 

Taka doesn't say anything, only stares at a distance. 

"There is, isn't there?"

"I've got it under control." Taka says evenly, refusing to meet Ryota's gaze.

"Like hell you do." Ryota rolls his eyes. "Talk."

"Later. Let's wrap up first and then do the concert and then we talk. All of us. It's pretty important, I guess..." Taka tells him almost begrudgingly and turns to see Toru and Tomoya step on the stage. 

"Ohayou." He greets them but Toru flips him off.

"Not cool, Takahiro." The guitarist tells him as he is being equipped with his guitar. He shares a brief glance with Ryota and sees the way the bassist's lips were pulled into a thin line. Toru's eyes fleet from Ryota to Taka whose body language is too high strung to be excitement or anxiety. He sighs and puts on a no-nonsense face. 

"Where'd you go last night?" Tomoya asks, grinning at Taka, oblivious to the morosity. 

"Trying to get laid but ended up getting miserable alone." Toru says as he approaches them, lips twitching between a grin and a frown, pretending to be cross but actually just amused by Taka's tardiness. "Am I right?"

"Hai, Toru." Taka replies mock miserably. "If only you knew..." He mumbles to himself grinning like a fool as an image of Ami in her red night gown flashes in his mind. 

"Don't be late next time." Toru admonishes the vocalist with a smirk that contradicts his stern tone. He gives a thumbs up at their music director just as Tomoya seats himself behind his drumset. 

"Oi, Taka. You tell me." Toru says, and the vocalist looks at him.

"Tell you what?"

"Why you went alone. Didn't even say anything. Just walked out of that bar with nobody to witness you leave. You just texted us that you were going to be late. I didn't think you'd be _this_ late." Toru tells him seriously and Taka's passive face almost breaks into a guilty one.

He shakes his head and looks down, sighing heavily.

"I wasn't alone." Taka murmurs, too quietly that Toru almost didn't hear.  

"Who--"

"I'll tell you guys about it. Just not now." Taka says and Toru takes it as a dismissal. The guitarist walks away to his designated spot with a worrying glance at Taka, and meets Ryota's gaze. He knows what Ryota means, forcing a weary sigh out of his lips.

Toru  _knows_ that trouble is on its way, he knows by the way Taka performs too roughly at the concert. Knows it when Taka tells them to sit down after their performance and pulls out his phone. Knows it with absolute certainty because he sees Taka's phone background isn't the _XXXV_ logo anymore. 

It's a picture of a girl wearing Taka's sleeveless  _Ramones_ shirt under a bathroom sink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Chapter 5 done! I hope everyone enjoyed reading this! And as always thank you for reading my work! :)


	6. A Home Isn't A Place, But You Are Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: First of all, dollpriince/chibliss made my fanfic a video edit! Thank you for the lovely edit! It's so cool! And everyone please check out dolpriince's ONE OK ROCK story going down. It's intense and fantastic! Now, off to chapter 6!

A/N: chibliss made a video edit of my fanfic [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ay69xOijS8). It's so cool! Check it ou. :)

 

\---

 

Before Taka left for work, he handed her his credit card and a crisp business card. The credit card was self-explanatory but the business card was still a mystery for her.

Ami spent the whole day lounging at the hotel room ordering lunch and dinner for herself. It's already 10pm and Taka hasn't returned yet. She's already dressed in her nightgown again after bathing and trying on one of her dresses for the day. She thinks she likes the color red too because Takahiro-kun seems to love it so much. 

Out of boredom, she takes the credit card and business card from the bedside table and turns the shiny paper card over and over. One side had alphabet letters while the other had Japanese characters. She assumes that both sides meant the same things only in different languages because the numbers on each side are the same. She reads the English side silently and wonders what it could mean. 

**_ONE   OK   ROCK_ **

_manager : Youji Asuma_

_youji . asuma @ oormail . com_

_080 - 1234 - 5678_

Ami purses her lips in thought but is interrupted by a knock on the door. Pulling the fallen right strap of her nightgown back on her shoulder, she walks to the door excitedly, expecting Takahiro-kun. She shuts one eye to anxiously look through the peephole, and sees a female hotel staff with a duster and a vacuum.

 _Not Takahiro-kun_ , Ami deflates. 

"Room service, Okyaku-sama." The young woman says in a thick Japanese accent and Ami pouts for a second. 

She unlocks the door and opens it, letting the woman inside. The staff immediately goes to work and Ami watches her. She sits on the single couch next to the TV and eyes the business card thoughtfully again. She doesn't notice the staff frequently glancing at her. 

"Madame, if it is okay, I want to question." The staff says in a small voice as she finishes up with her work suspiciously fast.

Ami looks with wide eyes and parted lips at the woman. She didn't expect to speak with anyone except Takahiro-kun today and it somehow puts her a little off guard, but she nods anyway because curiosity outweighed her unease this time.

"Yes?"

"Anata wa Moriuchi Ami-san desu ka?" The young woman starts excitedly but pauses when she sees Ami's brows furrow just a fraction. The woman sheepishly scratches the back of her head as she bows quickly. "Ah! Sumimasen! Eigo eigo eigo..." (You're Miss Ami Moriuchi, right? Ah! Pardon me! English english english...)

She straightens, looking at Ami with wonder in her eyes and mischief in her grin. 

"Miss Ami Moriuchi? With Mister Takahiro Moriuchi?" The woman asks with a roguish smile and it takes Ami a while before she could answer. 

"Uh... yes?" She replies, remembering last night that Takahiro-kun told the receptionist his and her name (her _new_ name).

"Ah! You are cousin?" The woman asks, nodding vigorously. 

"Uh... no?"

"You're his sister!" The woman exclaims then mumbles to herself: "I didn't know he has a sister..."

"Uhm..." Ami thinks because she's not exactly related to Takahiro-kun by blood but he gave her his last name.

If she tells the woman they're not family then it would cause a scandal. Takahiro-kun's a very famous lighting director as proven by the receptionist, and Ami doesn't want to get him in trouble. She looks around the room for an answer and her eyes lands on the bed. The _only_ bed in the room. Another problem.

Even if she says they're family, no family sleeps together on the same bed unless they are children, or husband and wife. 

_Husband and..._

Ami's face suddenly becomes warm, the staff blinks in surprise seeing her red face, and follows Ami's line of sight. She sees the neat bed and turns back to Ami with a naughty smirk as if she's won the lottery.

"Ah..." The woman chuckles darkly and bows. "Arigatou, Ojou-sama. Shitsureishimasu." (Oh... Thank you, Madame. I'll be taking my leave then.)

Ami watches the woman excuse herself and leave hastily. After the door was closed, squeals and giggles where heard on the hallway and Ami is perturbed. She peaks into the peephole of the door and sees the receptionist from last night jumping excitedly with the female staff. 

"Nani? Nani?"

"She is _tsuma_! Kanojo wa tsuma da!"

 _What is a tsuma?_ Ami thinks apprehensively.  _Did she just assume I was his sister? Oh no._

She's alarmed by their behavior so she opens the door to confront them. But the moment she does, they dash off cackling without noticing her. Ami becomes agitated as if she's given them something that could become a problem for Takahiro-kun. 

 _They think it's a scandal! No adult brother and sister sleep on the same bed alone._ She thinks at the back of her mind, even if it's a stupid reason. 

Darting down the hall wearing only her sleepwear, some of the people respectfully avert their gazes but some of the men followed her with their eyes. She didn't care because she had to clear something with the receptionist and the staff woman. 

Turning a corner, she sees them in an elevator but the doors were already closing. Ami gets on the next one and presses hard on the _GF_ button. It takes a few seconds but when she reaches the lobby she sees the two women head out of the hotel.

Ami follows them quickly. The chill of the winter wind blowing down on her as she exits the hotel doors. Shivering, she whips her head side to side looking for the women and trying to ignore the cold. She spots them, already a block away and she panics. 

She can't have them ruining Takahiro-kun with a misunderstanding so she chases after them mindlessly. She clutches the credit and business cards to her chest, and runs. The cold and rough concrete beneath her bare feet already slowing her down, but she pushes on. 

They turn a corner and Ami is almost upon them. She rounds the corner but bumps into an elderly woman.

"I'm sorry!" Ami apologizes, helping the woman back on her feet. The elderly woman only shrugs and lets herself be helped. Ami apologizes again before leaving and following after the women. 

She runs straight to where she last saw them, and tries her hardest to sift them with her eyes in the hundreds of people walking about. The people look at her strangely, some blatantly leer, but Ami becomes blind to them because she sees no sign of the receptionist and the staff woman. 

She panics and dashes through the streets, searching thoughtlessly. The anxiety clouding her judgment with every second that she doesn't find them. She steps back when she reaches an alley, the fear creeping in from under her skin at the sight of a narrow and dark path. Images of dogs flash behind her eyes, and she shakes her head roughly to rid her mind of them. 

Stepping away from the alley, the credit and business cards tightly enclosed in her hands, she turns and jumps away when a man blocks her path. 

"Samui desu ka, Oujo-san?" The man asks with a smirk and places a hand on her shoulder. (Are you cold, Miss?)

Ami flinches away from the offending arm and runs. She hears the man chase after her and looks over her shoulder, seeing two more men following after her. Adrenaline surges through her veins, warming her and taking her faster than her feet ever did her whole life. She collides with two people on the way but she doesn't stop to apologize this time because horror has taken over her body, the self-preservation instincts kicking in. 

When she reaches a crowded place, she hides in a telephone booth, looking alarmed and frightened. Staying for a few minutes, she thinks it's safe to go out after confirming that there are no more threats outside. Stepping out of the booth, she walks aimlessly through the crowd, trying to get back to the hotel in failure. 

Now rumors are going to spread about Takahiro-kun and it's her fault. Ami collapses on her knees with tears in her eyes. She's disappointed and ruined Takahiro-kun. She thinks she deserves to be punished, and her heart breaks at the thought. 

_"Bakayaro! Kono kuzumono no Baita!" (Stupid! You worthless bitch!)_

_"I'm sorry, Goshujin-sama!"_

Ami cries harder at the memory and feels the phantom pain of the wounds on her back. She remembers Takahiro-kun's face and imagines him punishing her with whips and cigarette burns. She shivers uncontrollably when she thinks about it. Thinks about Takahiro-kun hurting her in that way, but then a voice rings loud and clear in her head, chasing it all away. 

_"I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise."_

_"I won't let anything bad happen to you, I promised didn't I?"_

_"I don't want to hurt you."_

Ami sobs brokenly. Takahiro-kun's voice is so sincere and real, and she trusts him so much that she believes in his promises. The punishment that she imagined he would do to her gets erased by the images of his assuring smiles.

She clutches the cards to her chest and cries desperately. 

"Ano, Oujo-san?" (Uhm, Miss?)

Ami's head snaps up to the voice of a man and she freezes, seeing the uniform of the police. 

"Is there--" The policeman says in Japanese but pauses when Ami jumps to her feet. 

"No! Don't take me back to _him_!" She screams and makes a run for it but the policeman grabs her. 

"I'm trying to help!" The policeman says placatingly but Ami doesn't understand him.

"No! No! Please don't!" She pushes away the policeman's hands on her, dropping the cards in the process. 

Ami and the policeman reach for the items at the same time but the man is faster, he inspects the cards as Ami tries to fight for its possession. 

"Give them back!" She tries to snatch the cards away but the policeman pockets them quickly, glancing down at her attire in disgust. 

"Illegal prostitution and theft. Come with me please." The man says and takes out his cuffs. Ami didn't understand what he said but at the sight of the cuffs, she shrieks and tries to get away. 

The policeman is on her a second faster and apprehends her immediately. 

"What are you doing? No! I don't want to go back to  _him_!Please don't do this!" Ami screams and cries as the police gently drag her to the station. "Don't give me to _him_!"

"Please, just calm down." The policeman says irritably. 

"Takahiro-kun!  _Takahiro-kun_!"

\---

Toru, Tomoya, and Ryota stare at Taka's unamused expression after his explanation. They stare for a long time trying to get a small hint from Taka's face that he was only fucking with them.

"A little sister?"

"Half-sister." Taka corrects Toru who's looking at him passively. 

"And you say she wants to come with us on tour?" Ryota asks. 

"She just wants to hang out with me." Taka answers patiently. 

"But is she legal yet?" Tomoya asks cheekily and Taka hits him on the head. "Itai!" (Ouch!)

"Off limits." Taka says sternly as he crosses his arms over his chest. 

"Just curious, man." Tomoya laughs as he rubs the back of his head. "Damn siscon." He chuckles quietly and Taka shoots him a warning glare. 

"You say she's a student and part time model?" Toru continues, suspiciously looking bored.  

"Yes."

"So your wallpaper...?" Ryota dares but couldn't quite finish his statement. 

"It's a photo shoot she did. She messed with my phone. Made herself my background because she loves me like that." Taka explains with a straight face and Tomoya looks at him suspiciously. 

"Just admit it. You're a siscon-- _AH!_  Iteiteite!  _Itaitte_!" Tomoya tries to get away from Taka pulling on his ear but to no avail. Taka's grip on his ear is absolute. (Ouchouchouch! _I said ouch_!)

Taka releases Tomoya who nurses his ear with a hand. "She grew up in the States and it's only now that she gets to meet me." Taka says and the men nods approvingly. 

"So are there... more photo shoot pictures?" Tomoya asks hopefully and Taka shoots him another glare. 

"Yeah, I second him." Toru says uninterestedly but the way he nods his head eagerly contradicts his tone. 

"I third them." Ryota supplies and they all look at him seriously. 

"Hey, you're with Michelle! Get off of the bandwagon." Tomoya tells him and makes shooing gestures. 

Ryota puts up his hands defensively and clicks his tongue. "I only want to see Onii-chan's imouto." He sniggers at Taka who glares at him too. (Onii-chan's imouto = big brother's little sister)

"Alright, alright. But just one okay?" Taka tells them irritably and opens his phone. He shows them the picture he took of Ami when they were at Victoria's Secret, the one where she was inspecting a lacy red panty, and the men huddle together in front of his phone. 

"Ahh! So beautiful!" Tomoya squeals. 

"Do you have one with the lingerie on?" Toru asks, grinning. 

"Is she really your sister?!" Ryota exclaims, disbelief written on his face. 

Taka pockets his phone immediately and pushes the men away. 

"Yes, she's  _very_ beautiful." He smirks at Tomoya. "But _nobody_ is to touch her."

"Yes, I _have_ one with the lingerie on." He winks at Toru. "But I _refuse_ to show it."

"And yes, she really is my sister." He turns to Ryota and pauses, deep in thought. "But what if I said she isn't?"

"Blargh, that doesn't matter! So when do we get to meet her?" Tomoya asks eagerly and Toru nods along with him.

"What do you mean,  _if_ she isn't?" Ryota asks suspiciously. 

"Nah, just a thought. Anyway, I told her she can come after tomorrow's show." Taka says flippantly and somehow Ryota is convinced. 

"I'm so excited!" Tomoya exclaims as he climbs into his bunk. 

"Is she going to stay _here_ , on the bus?" Toru asks and climbs up his own bunk. 

Taka hesitates, rubbing the back of his neck. He checks his wrist watch and sees that it's already 10:26 PM. He turns to his band mates with a smile. 

"She sleeps in  _my_ bunk.  _Not_ any of your bunks. Got that?" He tells them authoritively and disappears to the lounging area. 

"Finally, less testosterone on this fucking bus." Toru sighs and Tomoya grins at him.

"Oi, Ryota. What do you think of this new development?" Toru asks and Ryota looks at him.

"I'm telling Michelle. She'll probably want to meet her." He says with a smile and plops on the couch. 

"Guys, gotta go meet her up at the hotel she's staying." Taka reappears, wearing a coat and a pair of sunglasses. "I'm late."

"So  _that's_ where he disappeared to last night!" He hears Tomoya's comment just as he exited the bus and heads off to the hotel.

Taka arrived in under half an hour, going straight to the elevators. He excitedly hums while in the lift and sets off to Ami's room. His lips begin to tug into a grin as he rounds the corner of the hall but it falls when he sees the open door of her room. He stops, momentarily stunned, and rushes into the room a beat later. 

"Ami?" He calls out but there is no answer. He checks the bathroom and the balcony and finds the suite empty. He calls again fruitlessly and his heart begins to pound hard in his chest. He walks out of the room and sees a male staff down the hall with a trolley. 

"Hey!" Taka approaches the man. "Where's the girl in room 110?"

"Ah, your _tsuma,_ Sir? She left half an hour ago." The man answers with a smile. 

" _Tsuma_?" Taka mumbles, confused, but straightens up quickly. "Wait, she left? Where?"

"I do not know, Sir. I only saw her get on the elevator. But I heard from Kurenai-chan and Anko-chan that she's your  _tsuma-san_. Maybe she's going to buy you a gift?" The man tells him and Taka is even more confused. 

Who were Kurenai and Anko? Why did they call Ami his  _tsuma_?  _Where_ is Ami going? Taka thinks frustratingly and thanks the male staff. He goes back to the room and sits on the bed stupefied. He looks around the room for any clues as to why Ami left and sees nothing in particular. 

Taka growls in the back of his throat and jumps to his feet. He paces around the room for almost ten minutes waiting for Ami to return when his phone rings. He cancels the first two times it rang but answers on the third persistent ring. 

"Yes, hello?" Taka greets impatiently and the caller is silent for a few seconds. 

 _"Hey. Calm down, will you?"_ Asuma says from the other side. 

"I _can't_. I told the boys where I'm at so why'd you call?" Taka asks roughly and then there's a sigh on the line. 

_"Listen, the local police contacted me about a theft."_

"I'll deal with it tomorrow. I have something important to do right now." Taka says dismissively but Asuma pushes on. 

_"No, they say it's yours."_

"What?"

_"They say it's your credit card."_

" _My_ credit card?" Taka asks skeptically but the beating of his heart suddenly speeds up. 

_Ami has my credit card. I gave her Asuma's business card._

_"Moriuchi-kun, do you know where I'm going with this?"_  Asuma says sternly. 

"I do. Where is this police station?" Taka replies and quickly walks out of the room, shutting the door as he went. 

 _"Ah. I knew it. What were you doing with a prostitute? Shit, never mind that, I know_   _exactly_ what _. But my point is, how can you be so careless as to have your card stolen? Moriuchi-kun you're slipping."_

"She's _NOT_ a prostitute!" Taka shouts angrily into his phone and then there is silence. He steps inside the elevator and punches on the lobby button. 

_"Wow, she's got to be good to get you so riled up."_

"Asuma if you don't shut your mouth I'm going to punch you the second I see you." Taka threatens with a growl and Asuma laughs. 

 _"Damn, Moriuchi-kun. Don't shoot the messenger. Anyway, they arrested her and confiscated your card. Said she was crying all over the damn thing in just a lingerie. This better not be a psycho fan, I'm gonna ask the police to keep it hush hush. Bad publicity. Stop pulling this shit, Moriuchi-kun. And I'm not saying this as your manager!"_ Asuma laughs and it irritates Taka into storming off of the lobby. 

"Where is the fucking station, Asuma?" He asks angrily and desperately hails a passing cab. 

_"The station's at Hiraishin Avenue. I'll swing by after we're finished with tool keeping."_

"Don't bother. I'll resolve this myself." Taka ends the call and pockets his phone roughly. 

The cab he hailed stops and Taka hops in.

"Police station at Hiraishin. Get me there in five minutes." He tells the driver with suppressed anger and the driver sighs as he steps on the gas.

"Ah, youth. Getting themselves in jail at least once in their lifetime."

\---

"Why does she talk that way?" 

"Are you deaf or something? Of course she's stuttering. She just got arrested, dumbass!" An officer backhands his fellow officer and grumbles about idiot partners. 

"No, I mean, she doesn't understand Japanese?" The other officer argues and points at the single window in the room. 

A two way mirror separates two rooms; one room had the two police officers while the other room was occupied by Ami and a female officer. 

"Izumo, she's definitely Japanese. She even kinda looks like that Vivi model, Tina."

"Why don't you listen to her then, Kotetsu." The officer named Izumo gestures to the window with a glare. "I am deaf after all."

"Shut up! Don't tell me how to do my job!" Kotetsu crosses his arms and pays more attention to the nightgown clad girl.

\---

Ami sits across the table from a female officer. She has her eyes cast down and fingers fidgeting on the cuffs that connected her to the table. There was a rectangular mirror to her left but she refuses to look at it because she knows that there are people on the other side, watching her. She knows this because there's one exactly like it in  _his_ apartment. The two way mirror that has forced her to witness the torture of people that  _he_ sometimes brought with him.

She keeps her head down trying to ignore the officer but the clearing of a throat surprises her, making her jump fractionally. 

"Dare ka, kimi?" The officer asks lowly and Ami shivers at her cold tone. (Who are you?)

Ami glances at the woman for a second and swallows. "Please, don't take me to  _him._ " She says quietly and the officer raises a slender brow. 

"Nandesuka? Mou ichido." (What is it? Say it again.)

"I don't understand." Ami says, slightly louder than the first because she can't make them understand that she doesn't want to go back to  _him_  by not speaking up. "I don't speak Japanese."

"Eigo?" The officer says quietly and Ami notices her glance at the mirror. The woman doesn't speak again until a few minutes later when a man enters the room. (English?)

\---

"You better pay up, sucker." In the other room Kotetsu hands Izumo a wad of bills. "Told you she wasn't Japanese. I know a half-blood when I hear one." Izumo gloats making Kotetsu sigh resignedly.

\---

"Shizune-san." The newly arrived man greets the female officer and takes a seat beside her. 

"Ibiki-san." The female officer greets back with a nod. 

"Hello. I am Inspector Ibiki Tsunemori and if she hasn't introduced herself yet, this is 2/Lt. Shizune Abarai." The man says and gestures to himself and the female officer. 

Ami glances at him warily and sees that he has a kind face. He also spoke in English so Ami surges forward to plead with him but the cuffs chaining her onto the desk stops her. 

"Please, sir! I don't want to go back!" She pleads and Ibiki is surprised by her outburst. 

"Yes, I know. But what you did is illegal, Oujo-san. May I know your name first before we proceed?" He asks patiently. 

"Ami. I'm Ami Moriuchi."

\---

"Did she just say Moriuchi?" Izumo cleans his right ear with a finger, turning to Kotetsu. "Whose credit card did she steal again?"

"Takahiro Moriuchi."

" _That_ Takahiro? As in Taka from One Ok Rock?" Izumo asks, wide eyed. 

"Apparently. Gai also confiscated the band's business card from her. We've contacted their manager already." Kotetsu answers, still observing the scene on the other room.

"Who's coming to retrieve the card? Is it the manager or is it Taka himself? Damn, I wish it's Taka. He's really cool you know? I listen to their songs and I've been to a few of their tours. I even went to their concert at Yokohama fucking stadium! See how big they are? They're big time rock stars! I wanna meet Taka! This is so--"

"Shush! They're starting the interrogation!"

\---

"Moriuchi you say?" Ibiki continues and Ami nods. 

"What a coincidence." He says with a small empty smile. "You stole from a man named Takahiro Moriuchi. Do you know him personally?"

"Yes! Is he here? I need to see him.“ Ami says desperately, and Ibiki and Shizune share a look. 

"Kanojo wa shoufu?" Shizune asks the man beside her and Ibiki looks at her grimly. (Is she a prostitute?)

"Kare no shoufu desu." (It seems he's her customer.)

"Ah, yabai. Kare wa nadakai otoko, desu ne?" Shizune clicks her tongue. (Oh, that's bad. He's a famous man, isn't he?)

"Hai, sou desu." Ibiki nods and turns back to Ami. "So, Ami-chan." (Yes, he is.)

"Yes?" Ami perks up, believing that their short conversation was about letting her see Takahiro-kun. 

"How do you know Moriuchi-san?" Ibiki asks kindly and Ami freezes. Ibiki though, saw her reaction coming from a mile away. 

Ami doesn't know what to answer. She can't say that he picked her up and decided to keep her. It would sound bad, and she would only take away her credibility with that statement. Ami thinks lying in an inspector's face is a horrible idea, because she has a belief that police are walking lie detecting machines.

She thinks about coming out clean and telling them that she was a sex slave and that Takahiro-kun saved her, but that would put her under the light and she can't have that because  _He_ has people in the police force working for _Him_. It would be an easy work from then on to find her once again. 

"Well?" Ibiki prompts, suddenly cold and calculating, and Ami panics. 

She suddenly remembers the receptionist and staff woman. She remembers them assuming she's his sister but the violent hand that lands on the desk makes her squeak in absolute horror, stopping her thoughts. 

"I asked you a question." Ibiki says threateningly, his kind face twisting into a dark one, intimidating her. 

\---

"Hmm. Shits getting intense there." Izumo comments off-handedly. 

"He's switched to emotional pressure. She looks like she'll spill once he compromises her emotions." Kotetsu replies coolly. 

"Ibiki scares me too." Izumo laughs to himself. 

\---

"Whatis your relation to Takahiro Moriuchi? Whydid you steal his credit card? What were yougoing to do with it?" Ibiki demands one after another, standing over her, further scaring her. " _Answer me!_ "

Ami flinches at the volume of his voice. "I--I am--I am--" She stutters, tears falling from her eyes. 

"You are  _what_?!"

"I--" Ami sobs. " _I want Takahiro-kun._ " She says desperately, like a wounded child, and Ibiki almost hesitates. So he hardens himself. 

"You can't meet him if you don't answer me." He tells her lowly, an ultimatum--a bargain--and Ami suddenly hears voices in her head. She thinks it's the miraculous answer to his questions and listens to it like a lifeline.

_"She is tsuma! Kanojo wa tsuma da!"_

Ami hears the staff woman's voice and she believes in it. Believes that she really is his _tsuma_ , so she makes up her mind and faces Ibiki head on.

She _will_ meet Takahiro-kun, no matter what happens. She _will_  meet him, even if it means acting as his sister.

"Tsuma--I am his tsuma!" Ami shouts just as Ibiki was about to demand from her again.

Ibiki straightens and looks back at Shizune who had a look of pity on her face. 

"Kurutte shimatta." She says, sighing. (She's gone mad.)

\---

"Did she just say she's his tsuma?" Izumo asks, leaning towards the window with his ear on the glass. "Did I hear that right, Kotetsu?"

"So we've got ourselves another delusional thieving whore. Case closed. Let's get out of here." Kotetsu shrugs. He stands and walks out of the door. 

Izumo follows after him, grinning. "Heh, another crazy infatuated fan. Ah, we can finally punch out." He says and rounds the corner of the hallway.

"Sir, that's restricted area!" A voice echoes from the intersecting hall and Izumo is suddenly pushed to the side. He swivels to give the rude person a piece of his mind when he comes face to face with Takahiro Moriuchi. 

"I know she's in one of these interrogation rooms. Where is she?!" Taka demands, not even acknowledging the man that he just barreled into. He stalks down the hall, opens a door and quickly peeks inside. Finding the room empty, he proceeds to the other doors. 

"Well, I'll be damned." Kotetsu whistles beside Izumo. "Is that...?"

" _Yes._ " Izumo replies excitedly but is cut off by the arrival of Gai, the officer who arrested Ami. 

"What are you two doing just standing there? Get Mr. Moriuchi back to the lobby! This is a restricted area!" Gai shouts at them, breaking Izumo from his daze. 

The three of them approach Taka just as he was opening his sixth door. Kotetsu curses, recognizing the same door he came out from just a moment ago. 

"Ami!" Taka exclaims, seeing her on the two-way mirror. Rushing to the next door, almost tearing it from its hinges with the way he opened it. 

"Ami!" He calls again and jumps into the room.

Gai, Izumo, and Kotetsu quickly follow and are greeted by the sight of a pair in an embrace. 

"Takahiro-kun!" Ami cries out, trying desperately to wrap her arms around him but the chains were pulling her back, preventing her. 

"Shh, shh, love. Don't cry, don't cry. I'm here. You're safe now." Taka consoles her. He tries to take her into his arms but the cuffs around her wrists were making it hard for him.

"Kotetsu, did he just call her love, or am I finally legitly deaf?" Izumo says in the background as Taka turns to the policemen. 

"Get these off, quickly!" He shouts angrily, pointing at the cuffs and chains. 

Shizune is the first to react, doing just what Taka demanded. Retrieving the cuffs, and glancing at Ibiki who looked too stunned to comprehend what was happening, Shizune gave Taka an apologizing bow. 

"Nobody even gave you a coat! You’re freezing!" Taka removes his own coat and wraps it around Ami. She then buries her face into Taka's chest, encircling her arms around his torso.

"Takahiro-kun. Takahiro-kun.  _Takahiro-kun._ " She chanted as she kept squeezing him, afraid that he'll disappear anytime. 

"Hey, hey, love. You're okay. We're going home." Taka tells her softly.

"A home isn't a place, but  _you_ are home, Takahiro-kun." She replies into his chest and it makes Taka smile as he hugs her back just as fiercely. 

He turns to the policemen and glares at them. Shizune gets the message, tugging Ibiki out of the room. The three other officers follow, closing the door behind them. 

"Kotetsu, _the_ Takahiro Moriuchi just pushed me!" Izumo says fanatically and Kotetsu only sighs. 

\---

"Ami, what happened? Why did you leave the hotel?" Taka starts gently, tilting her head so he can inspect her face. She wasn't hurt anywhere but he still wanted to check.

"I was afraid." Ami answers truthfully, fresh tears welling in her eyes. 

"Afraid of what? Did somebody hurt you?" Taka asks, alarmed. Guiding her to sit back on a chair, he kneels in front of her, taking both her hands in his. 

"That rumors of you might spread."

"Rumors? What happened?" Taka prompts gently, wiping her tears away. 

"There was a staff woman. She said I was your sister, your _tsuma_. And I know that brothers and sisters don't spend the night in the same bed. She looked at me like we did something and then left. I thought she thinks we're scandalous so I followed them."

"Wait, what exactly did she say?" Taka looks at her strangely, like his about to burst into laughter. 

"I heard her talking to the receptionist. She said,  _she is tsuma._  Then they left and I followed because I wanted to clear your name. And I'm sorry! I'm sorry there would be rumors! It's my fault. I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Ami tells him quickly then she becomes agitated, crying once again.

Taka finally laughs and Ami looks at him, face red and horrified. 

"Shhh. Love." Taka laughs again, making Ami sob miserably. "Nothing's your fault. You did nothing wrong."

"But they think we're brother and sister, and we're having sex. And that's incest and wrong. And there would be a scandal. You'll be ruined! No one's going to hire you anymore!" She tells him hysterically and Taka forces himself to swallow his laughter. 

"Ami. Look at me." He says holding onto her face and Ami obeys, her tears cease falling. "Sister in Japanese isn't _tsuma._ "

"What?"

"It's  _imouto._ " Taka says slowly. 

"What?" Ami repeats, dumbfounded. 

"It could also be  _onee-chan_ or  _nee-san._ But never  _tsuma._  God, never  _tsuma._ Unless I'm Jaime Lannister, but  _tsuma_ isn't sister, Love." Taka says with a devilish smirk and Ami doesn't understand the reference. 

"Then what is  _tsuma_?" She asks, wide eyed, on the verge of hysterically crying again and Taka grins naughtily at her. 

"My dear." He takes her hand and rubs her knuckles. 

"My lover." He says and looks at her straight in the eye.

"My  _wife._ " Taka kisses the back of her hand, never breaking eye contact with her.

Ami gasps, scandalized, fully comprehending what he said. She feels her face heat up and Taka finds her flustered face cute. With his other hand he brings out his phone, using it to take a picture of her.

"Kawaii." He chuckles and pinches her cheek lightly. "The more you know." He winks, smiling up at her. 

"Then I told the Inspector we're---?!" She shrieks, covering her mouth. Pure shock was written on her face, and Taka makes a sound between a snort and a giggle. 

"You told them you were my  _tsuma,_ didn't you? Hehe." He smirks triumphantly, making Ami bow her head in embarrassment. 

"I didn't know! I just wanted to see you!" She defends hotly and Taka shakes his head amusedly. 

"Then we'll tell them that."

" _What_? Why?" Ami asks, completely floored by how Taka was handling this so flippantly. 

"Meh, they're police. They'll keep their mouths shut. Besides, we can pretend to be married, and that sounds  _fun_! Won't you agree?" Taka smirks at her again and Ami is a little weirded out by these turn of events. 

She doesn't think it's bad to pretend to be his wife, but she's never even had a boyfriend before so she's a little lost on how she's going to act married. But she thinks it doesn't matter now because Takahiro-kun is here with her and he  _promised_ to take care of her. She trusts him and will always do, so she nods her head, agreeing with him.

"Okay, good. I was about to ask you to pretend to be my little sister but wife is even better, so okay! Here's our story!" Taka gives a thumbs up and proceeds to tell her his plan. 

\---

"So, Kotetsu. You think she really is his wife?" Izumo starts as the three of them wait outside of the interrogation room.

"Ask Ibiki here. Think she lied to you?" Kotetsu inquires, turning to the Inspector. 

"Shut up. Don't tell me how to do my job." Ibiki glares at him. 

"Heh, doesn't that sound familiar?" Izumo smirks, earning him a hit on the head from his partner. "Oww! What was that for?"

"Be quiet. We don't need to disturb the Moriuchis with your loud mouth." Kotetsu tells him sternly.

"The Moriuchis to you, huh? Guess you believe her too." Izumo replies, rubbing the area that Kotetsu hit. 

"Don't you?" Ibiki asks, looking at him.

"Nah."

"Why?" Kotetsu asks with a smirk and a teasing glint in his eyes. 

"It's nothing!" Izumo tells him defensively, a light blush tinting his cheeks and Kotetsu's eyes narrow at him.

"'Crazy infatuated fan', my ass." Kotetsu quotes his partner and Izumo glares at him.

Izumo was about to argue back when the interrogation door opens. The three look to the door, and sees Taka appear with Ami tucked under his arm, making Izumo pout sadly. 

"So, Moriuchi-san. Is everything alright?" Ibiki starts and Taka looks down at Ami, ignoring him.

"Love, tell them what happened." He whispers to her and she nods, looking down at her feet.

"There was a thief in our hotel suite. I didn't know how he got in. I was sleeping alone. He knocked over the glass on the table. It woke me up and I saw him leave quickly through the balcony with my handbag, so I chased after him. I don't know, but I wasn't thinking straight! I tried to follow him to the back alley but there was another person." Ami says, calmly at first but then her breathing escalates. 

"The thief dropped the credit card and business card and I ran with it because they were going after me. And--and--I was so scared! I thought they were going to kill me! So I just ran wherever and I somehow ended up on that street where the other officer found me. I really thought they were gonna kill me! I'm--oh my god--I can't--" She cries while hyperventilating and Taka tries to calm her down.

"Ami, Love. It's okay. I'm here. They're gone now. I'm here." He mumbles into her hair as he rubs her arms with his hands. 

Seeing the two together, Izumo whimpers quietly to himself. 

"A-Ami-san!" Ibiki suddenly exclaims. 

Ami looks up at him, wiping her tears away. "Yes?"

"I'm so sorry for scaring you!" Ibiki bows low and Taka chuckles at his display. 

"No, Inspector. It was only your job." Ami tells the officer but Ibiki still didn't straighten.

Taka turns to the other two officers and inclines his head at Izumo.

"Sorry for bumping into you." He tells Izumo in Japanese and the officer swallows audibly. 

"No problem! Hehe!" Izumo laughs nervously, making Kotetsu smirk evilly at him.

"Now that we've cleared things up. I don't have to bail her, right?" Taka asks and Ibiki finally straightens up, leading the pair back to the lobby. Izumo and Kotetsu follows. 

"Yes, Sir. You just need to sign in our logbook for the record. Gai also has the credit card. He's in the lobby." Ibiki replies. 

"Hear that, Ami? The police are helping me break you out of prison!" Taka tells Ami and they all laugh.

Except for Izumo. He was longingly watching Taka from the back. 

\---

When all the papers and log books were signed, Shizune appears before Ami in the lobby. 

"Ami-san." She bows and Ami gives her a small shy smile.

"Gomenasai, the misunderstanding. We are sorry." Shizune apologizes slowly, having a little difficulty with her accent. 

"It's okay." Ami replies with a nod.

"I have extra shoes. You borrow them. You do not have shoes." Shizune observes looking down at Ami's bare feet. 

"No need." Taka tells the policewoman, suddenly appearing beside Ami and deftly scooping her up in his arms.

Ami squeaks in surprise, automatically wrapping her arms around Taka's shoulders so she wouldn't be too heavy on him.

In the background, Izumo faints, and Kotetsu leaves his dramatic partner to approach the couple.

"Please just call a cab for us. It's only a short walk outside." Taka turns to Kotetsu who smiles and does as he was asked.

An officer appears in the lobby, walking to Taka with a stern face.

"I am Gai, the one who arrested Ami-san and I just want to apologize for all of this." He bows low, straightening a moment later to hand them a card. "I believe this is yours."

Taka glances at the credit card and then to Ami. He nods his head at the card, smiling at her and she nods in return. She takes the card from Gai who bows a second time.

"Gomenasai, Ami-san." He says and turns to leave. 

Kotetsu returns and helps Izumo, who's regained consciousness, on his feet. "There's already a cab waiting outside." He tells Taka and they accompany the couple outside. 

"Where's Ibiki?" Izumo asks and Kotetsu laughs at that. 

"Off crying because he felt bad bullying a girl--ah--someone's wife." 

"Don't rub it in." Izumo whines as they watch Taka gently put Ami inside the cab. 

"So he really does have a wife." Kotetsu comments, waving at the rockstar getting in the cab. 

" _Oh my god._ " Izumo moans. 

The cab pulls away into the street, disappearing as it rounds the corner. 

"And you didn't get to take a picture with him." Kotetsu adds. 

" _OH MY GOD_."

\---

Arriving at the hotel, Taka shivers as the cold finally gets to him. He feels a hand wrap around his own, making him look back at the person who held him.

"You're cold." Ami says beside him as they step into the elevator. 

"Well, we'll get warm soon enough." Taka replies, grinning but then shakes his head. "That didn't sound too good."

Ami chuckles and pats his arm.

"It's okay, I'll return your coat once we're inside the room." She says, smiling at him.

"Prison break, huh? That was a bad lie on my part but good acting on yours." Taka laughs. "Good job!"

"Thank you." Ami laughs too.

They get off on their floor and immediately find their room.

"Ami, get dressed. We're checking out." Taka tells her as they walked in, closing the door behind them.

"Were going back to the bus?" Ami looks at him, removing his coat from her shoulders. 

"Yes. There was a staff woman and receptionist here who acted weird, no?" Taka asks with a raised brow.

"They were just curious... Are we leaving because of me? I'm sorry!" Ami says, shocked. 

"No, Love. It's not your fault. We're leaving because of them." Taka reasons, sitting on the bed. 

Ami doesn't say anything, she only looks down guiltily and Taka sighs. 

"From what you told me, you did nothing wrong. They were nosey and that's unprofessional, so we're leaving." He says seriously, standing up and striding to her. 

"I don't want to cause any more trouble. I'll just stay by your side. Always. I can't be trusted alone." She says resolutely, meeting his eyes. She sees Taka smile at what she said as he approached her. 

"Always?" Taka asks, something of a sweet smile tugging his lips.

"Always." Ami reiterates with a nod making Taka's smile stretch into a full blown grin.

"It sounded as if we got married." He laughs and Ami understands what she just said in a new light, making her face flush red. 

"I didn't mean it like that!" She defends, biting her lip in embarrassment.

"You wouldn't want to marry a man like me?" Taka pouts at her, placing a hand on his chest as if he's hurt.

"N-no! I--"

"I'm so hurt!"

"Yes--wait, No--I mean, I would!" Ami says, her brows dipping so low she looked like she was upset at the idea of marrying him. Taka finds it cute.

"Do you now?" He laughs tackling her in a hug. "It was fun pretending to be married, I don't want to stop."

"Takahiro-kun, you originally wanted me to pretend to be your sister." Ami deadpans, making Taka laugh harder. He releases her and sits back down on the bed. 

"Speaking of sister, we  _are_ going to pretend that you're my sister." He says, smiling up at her. 

"Why?"

Taka chuckles nervously, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "I told my friends you were my sister?" 

"Huh." She huffs and proceeds to open her luggage bag. She peruses the articles of clothing, taking a dark blue skinny jeans, and a gray sweater. She pulls the nightgown above her head making Taka's eyes widen.

"Damnit." She hears him mumble, turning his back on her and face planting on the bed. "Just tickle me when you're done." Was his muffled comment and Ami laughs at him.

"Okay." She pokes him behind the knee, making him jerk away from her.

"That was quick-- _whatthef_ \--" Taka turns to face her but whips his head back at the sight of her nudity. 

"What's wrong, Takahiro-kun?" Ami asks sweetly but Taka hears that teasing edge in her voice.

"You're cruel, you know that?" He says onto a pillow, refusing to look back at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ami says as she puts on a bra and the sweater. 

"Whatever, Love." Taka says lamely, but he was grinning onto his pillow.

Ami laughs again. She slips into the jeans, stepping into the boots Taka bought her. "Do I still call you, Takahiro-kun?" She asks as she neatly folds the nightgown and packing it into the luggage bag. 

"Yeah. But _Onii-chan_ is fine too." Taka replies, face still buried in the pillow.

" _Onii-chan_?" 

"Elder brother."

"Ah. Then I'm good to go,  _Onii-chan._ " Ami says and tickles Taka on the ribs.

"Hahaha! Yamette!" He laughs and pushes her hands away, sitting up. "Let's go?"

"Hai, Onii-chan!" Ami smiles and Taka suddenly frowns. 

"That just sounds weird." He says putting on a funny disgusted face. 

"Why?" Ami looks at him strangely. 

"Because... I, uhm, find you attractive and you calling me _Onii-chan_ is just weird." He says with pursed lips and Ami finds it funny.

"Well, you insisted." She replies, giggling. 

"I should have told them we were married." He shakes his head as he stands up, putting on his coat and taking hold of Ami's luggage bag. 

"It's okay. I always wanted a big brother." Ami smiles at him and they leave the room.

Taka thinks it hurts a bit to be brotherzoned by a girl he finds beautiful. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: It's back! This was longer than expected but hey, the longer the better??? lol Next chap's going to be extremely late, be warned. I'm going to be super busy this week and the next. I'm off to some agency later and then off to Free Comic Book Day on Saturday because Miguel Mercado and Jin Joson will be there giving free sketches. I AM CRYING. #Jinguel bells Jinguel bells Jinguel all the way! Anyway, please leave a comment what you think of this chapter.  
> Thank you for reading!


	7. Siscon Confirmed!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: tsubaka21 made a fanart of Taka and Ami! Thank you so much for the cool art! This had me crying. Hahaha!
> 
> AND ALSO!!! I made a promotional instgram account for this because I imagine Taka enjoyed pretending Ami was his wife so he still pretends. On social media. Hahaha, so that's why I made the IG account. Please follow if you're interested on Taka's pretend life. [instagram.com/1am.i] The username is: 1am.i (I feel smart with that username pun lmao)
> 
> This has obvious sexual themes and I plan to write two different versions of the parts where there are strong sexual themes. I will post the Rated M ones on AO3 and the safe ones here. But that would be in the future chapters that have serious sexual scenes. Please be warned, Rated T in this chapter.
> 
> Now on to the short chapter 7!

 

To say that Ryota was intrigued is an understandment. 

Smoking outside of their tour bus, he sees Taka get off of a cab with a girl in tow. Ryota's eyes zeroed in on their joined hands, complete with entwined fingers, and he wonders if this is a new girlfriend or the mysterious half-sister that Taka somehow pulled from his pocket. If the latter were the case, then Tomoya's accusation of siscon _is_ true. 

But the moment he meets Taka's gaze, Taka drops the hand he's holding and stuffs his own in his coat pocket. The girl looks at Taka with confusion and an alarming level of hurt on her face but doesn't react more than that. She  _does_ however; warily eye the cigarette on his lips when she sees him.

 _Fascinating_. 

"Yo, Ryota-kun!" Taka greets as they approach. 

"Hey." Ryota greets back with a wave. He throws his cigarette on the ground and stubs it with his toe, noticing immediately the look of relief on the girl's face. "Who's your friend?"

Taka ruffles the girl's short hair, making her frown as she fixes her unruly dark locks. She stays quiet still. 

"Moriuchi Ami." Taka answers, grinning proudly. 

"Moriuchi? The elusive sister then." Ryota chuckles, smiling at Ami.

"Speak in English, she doesn't understand." Taka tells him.

"I am Ryota. Nice to meet you, Ami-chan." Ryota introduces himself with a bow and a warm smile.

"Hi." Ami greets back shyly, tugging at the back of Taka's coat. 

Taka looks at her questioningly and feels her anxiousness by the way she plays with the back of his coat. She glances at him with wide eyes and all Taka wants to do is to take her hand in his again to calm her. But he cannot do that in Ryota's presence because he's seen them hold hands a while ago. Ryota's already skeptical and Taka doesn't want to give him more reason to be.  

"Let's get inside the bus. I still have two more friends." Taka says suddenly, directing Ami to the bus and pulling her luggage bag inside. 

Ami and Ryota follow and they come across a duet of snores upon entering. Ami remembers the first time she got on the bus and the noise that these men created while sleeping. She giggles at the memory, making Taka and Ryota look at her weirdly. 

"Welcome to the boys dorm, Ami-chan." Ryota says sarcastically and Ami finds his humor a little bit endearing. With this, she relaxes fractionally around Ryota, smiling a little at his comment. 

"Let me just..." Taka says and strides to the bunks. He reaches inside Toru's and Tomoya's bunks and then a second later, a chorus of pained groans was heard. 

"Fuck you, Takahiro. I was almost to the good part of my dream." Toru curses, climbing down his bunk, not noticing the girl beside Ryota. 

"Me too." Tomoya whimpers in his bunk.

Taka sniggers and joins Ami and Ryota in the kitchenette. Seeing a third man in the bus, Ami becomes even more anxious, reaching for Taka's hand in a quick motion. Taka let's her upon seeing her lick her lips nervously. He squeezes her hand assuringly as he tries his best to hide their joined hands from Ryota's view. 

"Okay, speak in English." He tells the two remaining band members, and Toru's head snaps to him, finally noticing the only girl in the bus.

"Whyyyy?" Tomoya complains but speaks in English nonetheless.

"Because  _imouto_ is here." Toru tells him as he sees Ami who's looking at him with a guarded expression. 

He wipes his lips and fixes his bedhead. He clears his throat, approaching the girl who's holding onto Taka's hand discreetly. He wouldn't have noticed it by the way Taka was trying to hide their hands from his view. The small movement didn't go unnoticed by Toru but he lets it go, thinking it insignificant.

"Hajime--"

"Speak in English." Taka reminds him and he nods. 

"Hello, I'm Toru. I'm ONE OK ROCK's--"

" _Music director_!" Taka suddenly speaks over him and Toru shoots him a questioning look.

"She doesn't really know about the band." Taka says hurriedly in Japanese and Ryota raises a brow at him.

Tomoya drops down from his bunk, looking at Taka weirdly. 

"She doesn't know that _we_ are the band." Taka adds and Ami looks at him curiously, confused on why he's speaking in Japanese all of a sudden. 

Taka glances at Ryota pleadingly, and to his relief, Ryota catches on. He clears his throat and gives Tomoya and Toru a pointed look. 

"Yeah... Yes, and I'm the setting director." Ryota tells Ami with an Oscar winning smile, making Taka sigh quietly in relief. 

"Oh. So you're all directors of some kind." She comments quietly and turns to Toru, who's nodding along dumbly as Taka mouths  _just play along_ to him.

"Oi, introduce yourself to my imouto _._ " Taka directs the attention to Tomoya whose face is uncharacteristically passive as he studies Taka's unusual behavior. 

Tomoya stares at Taka for a while, up until Taka began to glare at him. He gets Taka's plan but an idea suddenly pops in his head, resulting in a shit eating grin to appear on his face. 

"Kanki Tomoya! I'm the--"

"Security head!" Taka shouts, sensing Tomoya's plan to ruin his  _own_ plan. 

Tomoya sticks his tongue out at Taka, making the vocalist glare at him.

"As I was saying..."

"Tomoya,  _no._ " Taka says warningly. Ami looks at the two in confusion. Toru and Ryota only sigh. 

"I am Kanki Tomoya..." The drummer continues, unfazed. 

" _Tomoya._ "

"I'm..." He pauses for a dramatic effect. Taka was just about ready to tackle him. "The manager." Tomoya says at last and Taka is stupefied. He gains his bearings a few seconds later, glaring harder this time at Tomoya.

"Maneeja janai yo!" Taka argues. (You're not the manager!)

"Nice to meet you." Tomoya ignores Taka and winks at Ami. He approaches them and extends his hand to her. 

Ami thinks that Tomoya is a nice person with his child-like grin and mannerisms, so she warms to him immediately unlike with Toru and Ryota. 

Tomoya giggles when Ami pulls her hidden hand from behind Taka and holds onto his instead. He bends low to kiss the back of her hand but a palm roughly lands on his forehead, stopping him.

"Oi, that's enough." Taka says, shoving Tomoya's face away from Ami's hand. "And no touching!" Taka adds as he pulls her hand away, entwining it with his own. 

Tomoya's eyes zoom in on their joined hands and then laughs. He laughs so hard, he falls to his back on the floor. 

"SISCON CONFIRMED!" He roars, earning a kick to his shin from Taka. He rubs on the part that Taka kicked, still wheezing in laughter. 

"Am not! Get over it!" Taka argues and pushes past Tomoya.

"Time for sleep!" He shouts as he pulls Ami and her luggage bag along to the lounging area.

The sliding door closes behind the two and Ryota seeks Toru's eyes, trying to convey his skepticism but Toru only shrugs, thinking Taka is indeed a siscon.

"Yeah, get over  _it_ , Ryota." Toru tells him with a knowing look and proceeds to step over Tomoya on the floor and climb his bunk. "Quit your yapping and go back to sleep, Tomo. I'm actually very tired."

"Ugh, okay." Tomoya sniggers and climbs his own bunk. 

Ryota sighs and plops onto the couch where he takes out his phone and texts Michelle about tonight's events. 

\--- 

Shutting the folding doors behind them to hide from his band mates, Taka hands Ami her bag and turns his back on her, rubbing his eyes tiredly with his hands. 

"Let's go to sleep. We'll entertain their questions tomorrow once we have a good night's sleep, yeah?" He tells her and she agrees by perusing her luggage bag and taking out her nightgown.

"Okay." She says and strips off her sweater and jeans, leaving her in only her underwear. 

"Takahiro-kun." She calls, approaching him.

"Yeah?" Taka answers, back still turned, giving her privacy as she changes clothes. 

"Thank you for making me understand that I can have privacy." She starts as she gently places a hand on his arm. 

"Of course. It's your right after all." Taka replies, smiling. 

"But you know..." Ami continues, but pauses to trail her fingers from his arm to take his hand and place it on her cheek. 

Taka's eyes widen at the gesture. His head whips to look at her, seeing a soft smile on her lips. For just a second, his eyes dart down to her body. Seeing her in her matching dark silk underwear. He immediately looks to the side, forcing his gaze away from her but Ami saw the miniscule shift in his eyes, making her warm smile turn into a sly one.

"Takahiro-kun, if it's you I don't mind." She says teasingly and Taka is floored with where this conversation started off.

"What?" He blurts out, shocked and intrigued at the same time. 

"Since you said I have a choice in my modesty, I _will_ be modest. But with you..." She takes his other hand, placing it on her other cheek so that both his hands were cupping her face.

Taka had no choice but to face her, but unlike earlier, he didn't look down. Instead, he gazed at her eyes so he couldn't let his own wander back to the silk treasure.

"I don't mind if you look. I don't mind if you see me." She says, face full of sincerity. "I trust you."

Taka's eyes search hers for a few seconds, looking for any sign that she's fooling herself into thinking that she's repaying him this way. He thinks about lecturing her about it again, when he sees her pupils dilate. Her eyes shine with something he can't quite grasp.

Studying her for a minute longer, he was determined to find fault in her statement, but to his amazement, he only finds unadulterated adoration in her eyes. It makes him weak, standing there looking at her in awe. 

"Why?" He asks quietly, almost whispering. 

"Because you would never hurt me."

Taka sees the certainty in her eyes, hears it in her voice, and he's sure he feels something close to devotion, an extreme fondness of her in that second. 

"Look at me." Ami urges and Taka's self-righteousness steps in, he tries to pull away from her but the inner  _hentai_ keeps him there, rooted to the spot.

"I don't want to take advantage of you." He says weakly and Ami gives him an amused smile.

"You won't."

Taka loses the battle. He slowly drops his hands from her face, letting her go.

Ami smiles triumphantly at this. She steps back, taking off her bra and letting him see her in just her panties. 

Taka takes the sight in and all he can think about is  _beautiful._ He subconsciously sweeps his tongue across his bottom lip upon seeing her and the next thing he does is dart out of the lounging area, sliding closed the doors behind him. 

Ami's brows furrow in hurt as she sees him flee and then she sighs when the doors closed, separating Takahiro-kun from her. She picks up her nightgown and puts it on dejectedly; folding the bra, sweater, and jeans to neatly place them back inside the luggage bag. 

\---

Hearing the opening and shutting of the door, Ryota's head snaps up to see Taka emerge from the lounging area. The first thing he notices about the vocalist is his extremely red face. The second is a curious thing, because there's a tent in his pants. 

"Why do you have an erection?" Ryota asks casually as Taka heavily drops beside him on the couch.

"Siscon!" Tomoya screams in his bunk. 

"Go to sleep, idiot!" Taka shouts back irritably, Tomoya replies by snoring. Taka turns to Ryota next. "And this isn't an erection! It's just the fold of my pants!"

"Uh-huh." Ryota hums as Taka places a pillow on his lap. 

"Why aren't you sleeping yet?" Taka asks, trying to calm down.

"I have a few questions for you." 

"Tomorrow. I'm tired." The vocalist answers, waving a dismissive hand at Ryota. "Let's go to sleep. Please." He adds wearily and Ryota yields. 

"Alright. Have a good night, Mori-chan." Ryota messes Taka's hair but Taka didn't have the energy to fix it.

The bassist climbs his own bunk, drawing close the curtains and listening to the usual snores of his band mates. Toru was already asleep by the sound of his snores and Ryota knows that Tomoya falls asleep as quickly as turning off a light bulb.

A few minutes later he begins to doze off but Taka calls quietly to him.

"Ryota-kun, still awake?" Taka repeats calling him but Ryota ignores the vocalist in favor of finally sleeping. On the verge of losing consciousness to slip into the dream world, Ryota's ears pick up on something that pulls him back from the edges of sleep. Keeping him awake. 

"Ami." Taka's voice fleets through his bunk curtain and Ryota is suddenly curious. 

"Ami, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to leave. Please come out." Taka says and Ryota guesses from the proximity of his voice that Taka is at the sliding doors.

"Ami, please come out." Taka repeats and a few silent seconds later, the sliding doors open. 

"I was just... surprised." Ryota hears Taka say. 

Then he hears Ami's soft voice. "Was I too much?" 

"Honestly, yes." Taka says quietly. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be too forward. I just trust you so much I don't want to hide anything from you. I'm so... comfortable with anything when I'm with you."

There is a long pause when Ami finishes speaking and Ryota almost thought they were done talking. 

"I'm okay with it as long as you're okay with it." Taka suddenly speaks, but with hesitancy. "I mean, I'm not pushing you or--"

"I'm okay with it."

"Ah." Taka sighs tiredly, the one where he's had enough of arguing, and Ryota knows what's coming next. He knows that Taka would say  _let's speak about this tomorrow,_  and then end the conversation. Whatever they are talking about, Ryota is sure they're arguing. 

"Thank you." Is what he heard from Taka's lips and he's confused with this new attitude from the vocalist because he can't predict him.

"It's really okay." He hears Ami reply lightly, like she's smiling and Ryota is completely baffled because he expected the opposite to happen in their conversation. 

"For trusting me this much." Taka adds and the tenderness in his voice didn't go unnoticed by Ryota. 

There is a feminine giggle and a rustle of clothes, and it tugs at his curiosity. Ryota tries to pull the curtains slightly so he can look at the two. He sees Taka hugging Ami and Ryota is surprised to see her in a red nightgown. 

"Let's go to sleep?" Taka mumbles as he withdraws from the embrace. 

"Where would I sleep?" Ami asks looking at Taka curiously. 

"My bunk. Don't let anyone in there with you or I'll gut them." Taka chuckles. 

"Won't you stay with me?" Ami asks as she proceeds to climb up the top bunk, above Tomoya's. Ryota's eyes widen in shock at the elaborate dragon tattoo on her back, almost ignoring the fact that she knew where Taka's bunk is without him telling her. 

"I sleep on the couch." Taka replies.

"Please?" Ami pouts, finally reaching the bunk.

"I can't."

"Please sleep with me."

"Love, that sounded  _so_ wrong." Taka laughs. 

 _Love?_ Ryota thinks skeptically upon hearing the endearment. 

"I mean sleep beside me. Not have sex." She giggles. "But if you want to..."

"You've been teasing me a lot lately."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Alright, move over." Taka says as he climbs up his bunk too, settling beside her in the cramped space.

"We're going to have sex?" Ami asks, surprised but ambivalently excited, alarming Ryota who's afraid that Taka might just say yes and have sex with his half-sister.

He knows that Taka is a  _hentai_ but he didn't expect  _this_ from him, at all. With their unusual clinginess with each other, his red face and denial of an obvious erection, and the fact that he called her  _Love,_ just solidified Ryota's resolve to jump from his bunk and stop them.

But just as he was about to, Taka says something that glued him to his bunk bed.

"I should have told them you're my w..." Taka mumbles but Ryota didn't quite hear the last part because Taka tucks Ami and himself under the covers, muffling his voice. 

Ryota laid awake for three hours before succumbing to exhaustion. He woke up an hour later staring at the wall clock that said 4:39AM because of a nightmare involving Taka doing something naughty with his hot sister. 

\---

Unbeknownst to Ryota, Ami shut Taka up with her hand before he could say that she should've been introduced as his wife.

"Shh! They might hear you!" She whispers furiously. 

"Relax. They're all out cold. You don't know how dead they are when they're asleep." Taka tells her. 

"Are you sure?"

"A hundred percent."

"Oh. Okay.” She concedes and smiles up at him. “So we’re having sex?”

“ _No._ ” Taka glares at her and she huffs disappointedly.

“Why not?”

“It’s not right.”

“Why?”

“Let’s just go to sleep.” Taka tells her sternly and she huffs again.

“Good night, Takahiro-kun." Ami says and cuddles up to him. 

"Good night, Love." Taka replies and kisses her forehead. 

Taka was surprised that Ami was willing—no, she wanted—to have sex with him. He thinks that she must really like him a lot or this is just a side effect of what she’s been through. From what she told him, she was abused many times, and that she finds sex as an activity that isn’t immoral, a normal thing. Taka wonders if she sometimes enjoyed it even if she was an unwilling participant.

He shuts his eyes tight because he _knows_ she didn’t enjoy any of it. He’s a horrible person for thinking that she did. But why was she excited at the prospect of bedding him?

Taka resolves to ask her tomorrow, but for now, he lets exhaustion take over.

The two of them fall asleep unaware of Ryota's horrible night. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This one's really short because I got lazy and I went away. But it's an early update contrary to what I said last chapter? Anyway, please tell me what you think about this chapter. Yay or nay? :)
> 
> As always, thank you for reading!!!


	8. Gravity Keeps Pulling Ryota Down

 

Taka wakes to the feel of hair tickling his nose. He blinks drearily and looks down at the source of his awakening. Ami's hair is sticking out in different directions and a few strands were trying to invade his face.

The tickling becomes an itch as Taka scrunches his nose in preparation for a sneeze. He tries to jump out of the bunk to avoid sneezing on Ami. God forgive him for sneezing on someone directly. So he quickly tries to face the opening of the bunk, but his arms get tangled in the covers, preventing him.

His head collides with wood instead, making a loud banging sound that wakes Ami abruptly. She screams something that sounded like  _I'm sorry goshujin-sama_ and shoves him off of the bunk.

Taka thinks that sleeping on the floor wouldn't be so bad because he sees the clock on Toru's bunk glaring at him. The neon red 4:02 AM taunts him and he decides that the floor is still comfier than his bunk.

Last night's events still demands his body's rest so he gives in and turns on his side, using his hands as his pillow. He yawns and closes his eyes. Mumbling something about red microphones and red night gowns. He feels the warmth and softness of a blanket cover him before he finally succumbs to sleep's pull.

"Sleep well, Takahiro-kun."

\---

"What's he...?" Tomoya mutters when he almost steps over Taka on the floor, maneuvering himself to step away once he jumps off his bunk.

Toru walks in, coffee mug in hand, and shrugs as he taps on Ryota's bunk. "Ryota, good morning. Are you awake?" He calls for the bassist and a blonde dyed bird's nest emerges from the curtains.

"I had a nightmare." Ryota drones as he looks at Taka's closed curtain bunk.

"Oh yeah?" Tomoya nods at him and Ryota explains.

"Taka he's..." The bassist starts and draws open his curtains, swinging his legs over to the edge. "A siscon."

Tomoya snorts and Toru rolls his eyes. "Don't jump down." The guitarist tells him but Ryota doesn't hear.

"I dreamt that he has a sister," Ryota continues and blindly jumps out of his bunk. "And they were going to have--"

" _ITAI!_ "

"Nani?!" Ryota shouts as he rolls away from the body that he landed on.

Taka coughs and curls in on himself. He throws away the blanket and clutches his hip with eyes squeezed shut.

"I'm sorry! I didn't see you down there!" Ryota apologizes as he tries to pull Taka into sitting up.

"Look down next time!" Taka growls at him and Ryota sheepishly scratches his head.

"Gomen."

"Fine, fine." Taka glares at the bassist as he stands on his feet, still holding onto his left hip. "But I think you broke my hip."

" _Gomenasai!_ " Ryota scrambles to embrace Taka, apologizing profusely.

"I'm kidding. I had nastier falls than this." The vocalist waves him off and heads to the small fridge. He roots inside for a quick meal and gives up once his tongue began craving for cup ramen.

"Yeah, but nothing's fallen  _on_ you yet." Toru comments as he hands the three of them their own mugs of coffee.

Toru always wakes up early and prepares their coffee because he absolutely loves the aroma and taste of it in the morning. It has been his ritual since they started touring in their own tour bus and the guys were grateful for his caffeine addiction. The first touch of coffee to their soul always was a good way to start their day.

"Correction,  _someone_  fell on me. What a good way to wake me up. Thank you, Ryota-kun." Taka says sarcastically and raises his mug at Ryota.

"I said I was sorry." Ryota frowns and looks down at his mug.

"Hey, it's alright Ryota-kun!" Taka laughs to ease the bassist's guilt and pats him on the shoulder, winking at him. "Besides, you're not the first to fall for me."

Tomoya spits out his coffee and laughs heartily. He wiggles his brows at Taka and begins to sing.

"Don’t go it's a mighty long fall, when you thought Ryota's the top! Ohhh~! Oh, no! It's a wakeup call, when you're hip went into shock!"

Toru and Ryota chuckle at Tomoya. Taka nods his head as is to say  _not bad._

"It seems like gravity keeps pulling Ryota down! Woaaaah~! Don't go it's a might long fall, when you thought Taka is up-- _ita!_ "

"That was actuary good." Taka says after he backhands Tomoya.

"Hm." Tomoya rubs at the spot that Taka hit and chuckles to himself.

"Eh. Why were you sleeping on the floor anyway?" Toru asks. Leaning on the counter across Taka who's on the couch with Ryota and Tomoya.

"I hate my bunk." Taka shrugs and sips his coffee.

Ryota remembers Taka slip into his bunk with Ami and wonders if it really happened or he just had a nightmare. Taka's usual answer of hating his bunk came flippantly and Ryota thinks that maybe he  _did_ have a nightmare.

The comforting thought lasted until Taka stood up and climbed the ladder to poke a hand into his bunk.

"Let her sleep, you siscon." Tomoya says teasingly but Taka ignores him.

"Her? You mean...?" Ryota's realization and nightmare finally catches up to him. He turns from Tomoya to the bunks where he sees a girl with messy short hair climb down Taka's bunk.

Toru raises a brow at his confusion and Ryota sets his mug down to groan into his hands.

"Having trouble sleeping again, Ryota?" Toru asks, observant as ever, and Ryota keeps quiet, rubbing his face with his hands.

Toru plops beside him on the couch when Tomoya joins the Moriuchis to search for cup ramens in the cupboards.

"Are you still onto their case? You know it's not unusual to see siblings this close." Toru says and Ryota looks at him.

"Is she really his sister?"

"From another mother it seems."

"That's not what I meant." Ryota shakes his head and looks at the three people crowding the microwave.

"Leave them alone, spoilsport." Toru snorts and sips his coffee.

"I don't know, Toru. Do you see siblings act like that?"

"Act like what?"

"Like they want to jump each other's bones."

Toru looks at him strangely and then chuckles. "I haven't even put on my pervert goggles yet and here you are seeing things."

"I saw them last night." Ryota insists, looking at Ami with a blank expression.

"We did too."

"No. They were in his bunk." Ryota turns his head at Toru and looks at him seriously. "They were talking about... having s--"

"Okay, I'm going to have to give you another mug of coffee." Toru tells him suddenly and stands to fill the bassist another serving of his famous brew.

"Toru, I'm serious."

The guitarist stops what he's doing to regard Ryota.

"I heard them last night." Ryota's voice drops into a whisper. " _I should have told them you were my,_  that's what he  _said_. It's like she's not who she's supposed to be."

Toru narrows his eyes at him. "What are you getting at?" He inclines his head at Ryota and shoots a glance at Taka. Seeing only a brother wrap his arms around his sister's shoulders, resting his chin on top of her head, waiting for their instant ramen that's in the microwave.

"I don't think they're siblings." Ryota says quietly and Toru comes closer, placing the coffee maker and mug down on the kitchenette counter.

"How could you say that?" The guitarist asks with an incredulous raise of his brows.

Ryota purses his lips. "I don't know. I  _accidentally_ see things."

"You don't make sense, Ryota."

" _They_ don't make sense." Ryota looks back at the three who has now retrieved their cup ramens from the microwave. He watches as Taka shows Ami how to season the instant noodles.

"Then chalk it up to him being a siscon. Like I said, it's not unusual. Maybe they're really close, you know?" Toru reasons and continues to pour coffee into another mug.

"Too close."

"Come on, Ryota. Don't you believe Taka?" Toru hands Ryota the full mug and elbows him.

Ryota is silent; this alarms Toru because Ryota has never doubted any of them. He observes Ryota's face and sees the deep set of his brows and the way he purses and unpurses his lips.

"You don't believe him." Toru concludes seriously and swiftly glances at Taka and Ami.

He sees Taka lead Ami to the lounging area and then close the door behind them. Tomoya stays put in the kitchenette, eating his cup ramen. Toru notices the two untouched steaming cup ramens in the counter and narrows his eyes at the closed sliding door.

"Let's say I believe you. But I don't, I'm only going to prove you wrong. So anyway, what are we going to do about it?" He asks and Ryota looks at him, his eyebrows set high on his forehead.

"You're gonna help me?"

"Err... not really. But I'm trying to clean you in the head."

"What does that even mean?" Ryota glared at the guitarist.

"Never mind that. What do we do?" Toru waves him off.

Ryota thinks for a while and Toru lets him. The bassist's concentration was only interrupted when Taka and Ami emerges from the lounging area in casual clothes.

Toru and Ryota share a look. Ryota's gaze imploring the guitarist to dare him wrong. The twinkle in his eyes almost saying  _I told you so._

"I got it." Ryota tells him and Toru raises a brow.

"What?"

"I'll stalk her social media."

Toru gives him a look. "That it?"

Ryota grins cheekily. "And then some."

Toru sighs and resigns himself to Ryota's baby fight.

\---

Rehearsal comes and goes and the four band members are greeted by the smell of curry upon entering their bus. Tomoya immediately dives in but Toru grabs him by his collar.

Ami is sitting cross-legged on the floor with Taka's phone in her hands. She's playing the legendary  _Flappy Bird_ game while charging the phone. It is a very welcoming sight and it makes Taka grin.

"I... I made lunch." She shyly smiles up at them and stands up, removing the charger and handing Taka his phone. "I followed the instruction on the box so I think it's okay.

"My sweet little w-- _imouto_!" Taka laughs and hugs her. Ami hugs back, delight lighting her face.

Ryota elbows Toru upon Taka's stutter and the guitarist shakes his head at him. They let it go for now when Tomoya begins handing them each a bowl. Taka takes first serving and offers it to Ami who shakes her head with a smile, indicating that she's already eaten her fill. Taka bites his lips to prevent his smile from splitting into a roguish, satisfied grin, but he can't help it. His mouth curves into a full-toothed grin.

He's too pleased with Ami right now and it shows in his eyes. A twinkling that doesn't extinguish. Even Tomoya who's already swallowed half his serving notices his mood. The mood that the drummer can compare to a pug puppy getting too many cuddles.

"Is it okay?" Ami's voice fleets between them and Taka swallows his first bite.

How she managed to get more flavor into the instant curry, he will never know, but Taka is very impressed. He swallows another spoonful and winks at Ami.

"Mmyesh, vory goomd." He says while chewing and Ami smiles, relieved.

"Love this, Ami-chan." Tomoya gives her a thumbs up and helps himself a second plate.

Toru and Ryota remain quiet because they have nothing to say other than,  _Oishi..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Late again. I am sorry. I had trouble writing this one. Hmm... Trouble next chapter. Toruta are at it! Hehehey!  
> Thank you for reading! Again, sorry if this may be underwhelming. I love every single one of you who reads this. Thank you so much!
> 
> \---
> 
> A/N2: I've been working on another Taka centered story which I'll be posting alongside this. It's a Soulmate AU if anyone is interested and it has a different writing style from this (I've been reading too many Star Trek and Game of Thrones fanfics and they are insanely well written my work seems like potato in comparison). 
> 
> Here's the summary for the Taka Soulmate AU fic I titled only the rain:
> 
> Of course he's going to say something silly, his soulmate's first words to him could have landed him in jail. It's the reason why he erased the words on his right shoulder forever. The sun design that has an indication of 1 o' clock makes sure that the world doesn't know the words written on him since he was eighteen.  
> But even though he can't see the words anymore, they ring in his head in a voice not his, it's still in the back of his mind like a neon sign over a shady cafe. Running in two lines, written in ice white:
> 
> you pervert
> 
> Or that soulmate AU wherein you magically have a tattoo of the first words your soulmate says to you. 
> 
> \---
> 
> A/N3: I made a promotional instagram account for this because I imagine Taka enjoyed pretending Ami was his wife so he still pretends. On social media. Hahaha, so that's why I made the IG account. Please follow if you're interested on Taka's pretend life. [instagram.com/1am.i] The username is: 1am.i


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